Savior
by YIWT
Summary: Post-Ragnarok. Loki wanted adoration. Now he's got it. Now what?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This takes place after the end of Ragnarok, on the ship.**

 **(To reassure you in advance: the OC in this part is a minor character, and there will be no underage sex or romance in this story.)**

* * *

A pale, thin girl weaved through the party and dipped a curtsy. "Gatekeeper?" she said. "May I ask a question?"

He smiled at her. "I'm not the gatekeeper anymore, child." He tossed his hair behind his head. "But you can always ask me questions." He _looked_ for her name. "Sigyn."

"I-. Yes." The recognition flustered her. "I-, I was just wondering, whether there will be opportunities for formal audiences some time. Whether we can… make petitions. Like people used to do at court."

"Ah." He glanced up. Thor was lounging against the window, nursing a large beer, just staring out at the stars. "I don't know if the King plans to hold court anytime soon, but you can always ask him. _Thor!_ " he called, and beckoned.

"No-! No, I didn't…" Sigyn shook her head. "I didn't mean him. I wanted to talk to Prince Loki."

"Oh." By now Thor had come, and caught that last bit. Heimdall exchanged a glance with him. Loki was across the room, drink in hand, laughing with some of the aliens he had brought from the gladiators' planet.

Hardly princely. And hardly to be trusted. But Thor was nodding assent, so Heimdall looked hard in Loki's direction and thought at him: _Loki. Come over here._

Loki perked up, looked around, and frowned at having been summoned. But he took his leave of his friends, and slouched over. "What?"

Heimdall indicated the girl with a nod. "This young lady would like to speak to you."

His smile was a little unfocused, a little dulled with drink or relaxation or gods knew what. "All right." He stood to his full height, and looked down at her. "Hi."

"Um-. Hi." Sigyn looked around at all of them, Loki to Heimdall to Thor, and back to Loki again, and finally made her move. "Prince Loki," she said, and sank into a deep and proper curtsy. "If you are hearing petitions, there's something I want to ask you for."

Loki chuckled. "This should be good. Certainly – what can I do for you? Besides save everyone's lives, of course – which I've already done."

"Not everyone's." The girl stood up, solemnly. "My mother didn't make it onto the ship. I suppose she was killed on the Rainbow Bridge – I don't know."

"I'm sorry-," Loki began, sobering, but she continued over him.

"And my father was killed on Hela's blades. So I have no parents – no one left to petition on my behalf. It falls to me, now, to make arrangements for my own future."

The speech was clearly rehearsed, delivered well and seriously. And Loki took it as such. "I'm very sorry you have been orphaned," he said. "Tell me how I can help you with your arrangements."

She took a deep breath. "I was raised at court and raised well," she said softly. "My father was loyal, and my mother was beautiful. I'm only twelve now, but when I turn fourteen and a woman, I want you to take me as one of your concubines. I know it's two years off, but I-, I formally request that you consider it."

"I-. I beg your pardon." Loki blinked rapidly.

"I'm virgin and I'll stay that way. I'll do whatever you ask; a place with you would be an honor I promise I will earn."

Before the girl could promsie any further, and before Loki could say something unwittingly cruel to her, Heimdall stepped in. _Thor: stop this._

Thor nodded and cleared his throat. "Excuse me. Sigyn, is it?"

The girl's eyes didn't move from Loki. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"It's true that absent a father or mother, it's your right to speak on your own behalf. But you forget: Loki is not king here, I am. So before anyone is brought into his household – a royal household – you would have to have permission from _me_."

Finally she looked at him. "Then I formally petition for your permission. As well as petition Prince Loki to accept me."

Thor nodded gravely. "Loki and I need to confer about your request," he said. "Go rejoin your friends and we'll send for you later."

"Yes Your Majesty." She curtsied again. "But I don't have any friends." She threaded her way back through the crowd – head high.

Thor and Loki looked at each other. Loki spoke first. "What the hell was _that_?"

Thor grinned. "Earth calls them _fangirls._ I believe you have an admirer, Loki. Congratulations – isn't that what you always wanted?"

* * *

He _hated_ to admit it, but Loki really did need a moment to think. He had to hand it to Thor for giving him one – except not really; the interference was clearly Heimdall's idea.

He heard Thor out and then took his drink off to a private nook to reflect. His brother was right – he _had_ been waiting for adoration. But now that someone actually adored him, he found the situation incredibly disquieting. _I did want women,_ he reminded himself. _It's just a motherless twelve-year-old isn't quite what I had in mind._

Now that he thought back, he could remember this girl. She was one of the regulars at his theater productions – quiet, always alone. He thought he could remember seeing her spellcast on occasion.

But he certainly couldn't ever remember wanting to adopt her. Or bed her. Or whatever she was asking for.

 _You must be honest with her,_ Thor had told him. _If you lie she will sense it, and she'll dig for truth. But be gentle, brother. Any unkind words from your lips – any glance of scorn, or pity – will cut her deep. I made such mistakes many times in my youth, and I regret them terribly._

Loki had resisted the urge to dump a drink over his head – because of _course_ Thor's innumerable conquests had been _just_ what he wanted to hear about! – but tried to take the advice to heart. Thor _did_ have experience, and likely was right. A poor savior he would be if he saved the girl's life but broke her heart the next weekend.

The "throne" was unoccupied while Thor socialized, so he plunked himself down in it and called the girl to him with a gesture. She had been lurking aside and watching him the whole time, as he'd expected.

"Sigyn," he said. "I have carefully considered your proposal, and I must refuse. I cannot take you as a concubine. I'm sorry."

She stood straight with her hands clasped. "Why not."

"Uh-." Honesty? "Well, you're a child."

"I'll be grown in two years," she pointed out. "And anyway I've seen you conjure – you could make me look like whatever you wanted."

That was… a disturbing thought. (And why had he never, ever thought of trying that? His sex life could have been improved immensely, if only he'd had the bright idea of-) He tried to put it aside. "It's not you, it's that I can't take on _any_ concubine." He had been caught off guard, and now spoke too fast and too truthfully. "I, I can't even take on a friend. Ask anyone – I'm not capable of it. I never have been."

"Not capable?" Her eyes flickered from his for a moment – to look down. "You mean-?"

"What-? _No_! No, not-. Not incapable like _that_." He crossed his legs. "I am _definitely-._ For fuck's sake. Never mind." He sighed. Passed his hands over his face.

"Then I don't understand," she said – pressing. As Thor had warned.

 _Neither do I,_ he should have said, if he were being _truly_ honest. This was frightening him, and he didn't know why.

"You don't have to understand," he said at last, curt. "You only have to obey me. And I am telling you to let the matter drop. Your petition is denied. Do you understand _that_?"

The girl's pale face went red. She stood motionless, except for a twitch around her mouth.

She was trying not to cry. "I understand," she said at last, strained and shaky. Loki could himself remember producing sounds like that as a child. He would have died before he cried in front of Odin. "Thank you for hearing me." Proper to the last.

She curtsied fast, head bowed, and turned to flee.

 _That was ill done._ He wished he could blame the disapproving voice in his head on Heimdall.

* * *

He soon realized that Sigyn wasn't the only child treating him strangely. Many of the others, boys and girls both, followed him with their eyes, pointed and whispered when they thought he wasn't looking.

It made him shy; it kept him largely sober; it prevented him from needling the green beast. (Which he _longed_ to do; now that he'd had time to think about it he was sure he could return the creature to its weak human form via magic. And wouldn't that be an excellent reversal!)

And it kept him far, far away from Thor. Most especially when Thor took the men to the makeshift practice floor to work with weapons; he didn't want any of his audience to see him manhandled. He had to practice _sometime,_ though, or his fighting skills would rust, and then the next time they got into it, which certainly would be sooner rather than later, he would be killed.

So he crept down alone in the early mornings to work out. Before long one of the children saw him, though, and then more started showing up, haunting the doorway, watching as he shadowboxed illusions and conjured blades to throw at targets.

(Hela had convinced him that it was a style worth exploring in more detail.).

Finally, one day one of the little boys actually entered the room with him as he finished up. "Prince Loki? Can I train with you?"

He wiped his face. "Train with me?"

"The way the men train with Thor." Loki frowned – Thor again. "And the women have the Valkyrie. But we have no one." He gestured to the other small ones in the hallway.

He laughed. "How old are you – six? Seven? If I start teaching you to kill things, your parents will call for my head."

"I'm almost ten," the boy said, severely. "And most of us don't _have_ parents, so don't worry."

"Ah, right." His smile vanished on its own. "I'm sorry."

"Heimdall's been taking care of us, but he fights with Thor and he guides the ship and we want to practice every day. _You're_ here every day – and you're obviously pretty good. Can you teach us?"

" _Pretty good_?" He was still panting a little. "Why thank you. But: _will_ you teach us, you should have said."

"Please?" Another child – even smaller! – had edged into the room. "You fought so good against the Dark Elves!"

Another one: "That was only a play, stupid."

Another: "But it was _based on_ a true story. And obviously he fought good, or he'd be dead."

"He _was_ dead – that was the whole point of the play!"

"No! He was _not._ He's right here!"

Loki stared at them all as they filed in, bickering. When they finally became quiet again, the first boy just said: "Please?"

They all… wanted him. Genuinely. These children were the future of Asgard, and they had come to him of their own accord.

"I'm not going to stand over you while you do your pushups," he said at last. "But growing strong is helpful if you mean to be a fighter. So I'll show you exercises, at the end of the hour, and you can do them on your own." The younger ones were still just staring, but the older ones had started to exchange glances, small smiles of excitement. They knew he was saying yes, and they were _delighted._

"What I will spend time with you on," he said, "Is fighting. In particular with knives. Most of you are too small to use swords, and contrary to what some Asgardian trainers used to think, it's _stupid_ to give a small child an enormous sword." The trainer in question was now dead, but that only diminished his satisfaction a little bit. "For small quick people, knives are better." They nodded, wide-eyed and attentive.

He looked them over more critically. "Anyone not dressed for combat, go arrange yourselves. Girls, long dresses are an encumbrance – learn without them to start. Everyone else, pick a partner and start to get warm."

The chaos that resulted almost made him rethink the whole project. Some of the children began play-fighting with one another – as he'd intended. Others started to chase each other across the room. Some of the little ones began to hug. "Not warm like _that,_ " he tried to protest, but then had to turn and stop two of the more adventurous boys who had started to pick up his knives. While his back was turned someone else hit the ground hard; someone squealed; thumps and crashes sounded from every side. "All right all right all right: _FREEZE_!" he bellowed.

They froze. "Line up! Against that wall!" He barked his orders loud and sharp, and one of the little ones started to cry. A few others looked like they might start next.

"No no. Hush hush." He bent and scooped the child up – four or five years old, perhaps? – and bounced it on his hip while he talked. "Don't be upset," he told the group at large, "That's just how soldiers talk to each other. You'll never be heard on a battlefield if you don't learn to raise your voice. It's all right. Calm down. You're doing fine. Everyone's doing fine."

The little one stopped clinging to him and squirmed to be released. When he put it down, it scampered off to line up with the others. Excellent.

"Now. When I said _choose a partner_ … choose one of these." He separated himself out, a dozen clones of as solid a composition as he could manage. They moved off to pair with the children.

"Just warm up," he explained. "You try to hit them, and don't let them hit you. Come here." He beckoned to one of the clones and demonstrated. When he tagged it in the head a shower of sparks resulted, and a few of the children squealed with excitement.

Such an easy audience. He loved children, he really did.

"Go on," he said. "Like that. Warm up. I'll be sitting over there." He couldn't realistically keep a room full of Lokis even remotely in check if he was running around active at the same time.

As it was it would be something of a stretch. He hoped none of the clones would get grouchy and do injury. He doubted it though; the clones were _him_ at bottom, and he was coming to think that the children were fucking fantastic.

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **Definitely let me know what you think. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to wrap this quickly, or let it grow into some sort of massive epic.**


	2. Chapter 2

More children the next day, and even more the day after that. The girl who had propositioned him was among them. "Hello, Sigyn," he said – and noticed that several other little girls turned visibly envious. Would he have to learn _all_ their names? At least all the females.

"Hello, Prince Loki." Her voice was a lot softer and more unsure today. "Is it all right if I join?"

"Of course – glad to have you. Pair up with someone close to your own size and they'll show you the unarmed drills we warm up with." He had already taught enough to forego the clones until the knives came out.

"I just-… I don't want to be… unwelcome."

He sighed and took her by the arm. Tugged her aside for privacy. "You are not unwelcome," he said. "In case I wasn't clear the last time we spoke: the reason I rejected your plan is that _I_ am problematic – not you. You seem like a perfectly nice girl and I wish you only the best. Clear?"

She nodded, but her expression was dark.

"What?" he pressed.

She heaved a loud sigh. "Look, thank you for _trying_ to dump me nicely, but for your information, you're _not_ very good at it." She flounced off with her nose in the air and picked a partner.

 _Don't worry,_ he wanted to tell her, _When we move on to armed drills you'll get to stab me until your arm is tired._

* * *

It was only a matter of time before Thor sent for him. "I found one of the children playing with _this_." Thor tossed it at him – and almost skewered him, with one of his own knives.

"Ah. I conjured that," he said. "It'll fade away in a couple of hours."

Thor looked incredulous. "So the boy only has a couple of hours to stab someone with it! Oh, that's fine then." He shook his head. "Come on. Offering knives as toys is irresponsible, brother – even for you."

"They're not _toys,_ " he snapped, before he could stop himself, "And the children aren't playing."

Shit. Shit, fuck, shit. At this point there was nothing to do but admit it all. "They all know that if they cut someone outside of the practice floor they won't be allowed to train anymore, ever. And if they punch someone they're suspended for a week."

"Allowed to…?" Thor shifted. "You've been training them?"

"Brilliant deduction." He shrugged. " _Someone_ needed to start training them, or where exactly do you think Asgard's next generation of soldiers is going to come from?" Thor didn't answer fast enough, so he had time to go on the attack. "So: you haven't wondered what goes on on the practice floor when the doors are barred and the room cloaked from Heimdall's view? Do you mean to say that somebody can start raising an army right here under your nose and you wouldn't notice it?"

"I noticed the room was hidden." Thor shrugged. "But I thought you were just in there training alone – you know, embarrassed at the way your skills match up to the rest of us."

Loki showed teeth. "One of us recently got his eye put out by a girl, brother, and it wasn't me."

"Ow. That's harsh."

"Mock my fighting all you like, but my blades are sharp and I never miss a riposte."

Thor sighed. Held up his hands. "Fine. Loki: I surrender. I'll come tomorrow and help train them."

"No," he shot back, immediately. He _liked_ his class and he wasn't about to cede it – like everything else – to fucking Thor. Besides, he had spent enough time on the practice floors with Thor to imagine what his bestial savagery would do to the atmosphere, and it was horrible. "You can't train children."

"What do you mean I _can't_ -"

"You're inconsiderate and you take too much for granted," Loki said over him. Rather than recount a lifetime of grudges, he settled for: "I tell you from experience that you're murder on someone who lacks fantastic strength or endurance or tolerance for limitless pain. You're murder. You've always been murder."

"Lies. All lies," Thor said neatly. "I'm coming to your training tomorrow."

Loki stared for a long minute. He could argue, but Thor had never been one to yield to argument. "Fine," he said at last. "Come tomorrow morning at seven."

* * *

The practice hall was mirrored on every side, and Thor wasn't as stupid as he used to be. So, Loki went to Sigyn. She was alone as usual. "Got a moment?" he said.

She looked left and right – as if it wasn't clear that he was speaking to _her._ "Uh – yes?"

"What you asked of me would have required that you bind yourself to me – swear me your loyalty. Did you realize that?"

She blinked. "Y…es?"

"So am I to understand that you're open to the idea of extending me a little trust?"

She still looked only confused – not wary. The poor, naïve little thing. "I guess so?"

"Good. Because I need a favor."

Her jaw dropped. "A favor from _me_? Sure, of course. What do you need?"

"Tomorrow morning I need you to be in the hallway directly outside the practice room, about half an hour before we start. Wait there, for Thor."

He gave her instructions and she nodded, without asking any questions.

She did _look_ a little wary by the end, though, so when he was done he smiled as reassuringly as he could. "It's just a bit of fun."

* * *

"Thor? Are you listening to me? I know it's a stretch to move, brother, but if you just turn your head you can-…? No? All right, here, I'll come around.

"There. Now we see one another. I want to talk to you, brother. About the way time moves on Sakaar. Time moves differently on that planet, remember? So for example, you left me there, in the grip of one of these devices like the one you're wearing now… and from _your_ perspective I came to rescue you just a little while later. But you have _no idea_ how much time actually passed for me, do you. And you never asked. I could have been lying there under torture for hours or days before someone found me.

"You have yet to apologize. For that entirely gratuitous cruelty. And I- what? What's that? Sorry, can't hear you – is that just an _in_ voluntary squawk, or are you trying to say something? Trying to apologize now, maybe? Mm, heh, sorry. Little too late.

"I have to say this isn't _entirely_ satisfying though, because I can't _really_ give you the full experience. I was in terror, you see, thinking that that thing might well kill me, or render me permanently-… what? Sorry, again, no idea what you're trying to-… oh. Oh, did you just piss yourself? Is that it? Yeah, I've been there. Don't worry, it gets worse.

"Anyway. _You,_ unlike me, can just relax – you know it all winds up being fine in the end. So fine it doesn't even require an apology! So I'm going to leave you hidden in the corner here, brother, with this timer – no, I'm not going to turn it around, you don't get to see how long you have to go – and you're going to wait out what you did to me. I promise it'll _feel_ like eternity.

"But – listen to me, Thor – be quiet and listen, can't you stop making that sound? No one will hear; I'll just muffle you with magic. Listen. But you were willing do this without a second thought, weren't you, so I trust you won't have a word of complaint at having it done back to you. Right? Right."

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **Oh Loki. *Shakes head*.**


	3. Chapter 3

The device should have de-activated after two and a half hours. Loki loitered in the main room all morning after practice, expecting Thor to burst in at any moment, figuring that the inevitable beating would be less savage in public; Thor wouldn't want anyone to think he was a bully after all.

But Thor didn't come. By lunchtime Loki was a little concerned; it was possible he had mis-cast one of his spells, or theoretically possible that Thor was somehow less resistant to electrical torture than he was (unlikely, given his newfound ability to channel lightning straight through his body, but who knew!), so he eventually returned to the practice room to make sure nothing was wrong.

The lights were off. A spell illuminated the room, and another spell dispensed with the cloaking in the corner.

No Thor.

Before he could think any further, he was grabbed suddenly from behind.

"Ah-ah," Thor warned, tightening an arm around his throat. "Hands where I can see them."

He spread his hands, not attempting to spellcast – yet. And then he was allowed to breathe. "I just came to check on you."

Thor let go of him – roughly, so that he stumbled and almost hit the floor. He caught himself, stood, and faced his brother.

What he saw was shorn and one-eyed and exuding cold hard power. Adrenaline flooded him suddenly; this was not the Thor of his youth. He should have brought an audience. Here it came, a real mashing; even without the hammer and down an eye, Thor was going to pound him into the floor – maybe even call the green beast to help.

 _That_ thought took him from battle-ready into flat panic. He flicked his wrist – his own spell; Hela's was still a little tricky – to put a blade in his hand.

Thor saw that and grasped for the hammer. When he remembered he hissed and just squared up instead. Power crackled across him. "Loki, what are you doing?"

"Nothing – stay away from me," he spat. He couldn't shake the feeling that Mjolnir was about to fly at him and fell him from behind. Or – almost as bad – maybe Thor had managed to clip the buzzer to him again while they struggled a moment ago.

But Thor didn't come any closer, and he had a moment to take stock. A quick magic scan detected no foreign devices. And Mjolnir was no more. "I just came to check on you," he repeated, willing himself to calm down. It didn't work. "I was worried about you – but now I'm worried about what you're going to _do,_ so honestly if you're going to kick my ass why don't you just do it and get it over with." He dropped the knife and stepped forward, arms wide open.

The lightning fizzled out of Thor's eye. "I'm not. I'm actually a little too worn out to fight right now, so. Consider yourself lucky."

Loki was listening for anger, and heard none. So he pushed. "Just imagine if you had to take control of a group of armed revolutionaries, steal a ship, and attack Asgard right now."

"Yes yes yes, you made an impressive rescue." Thor rolled his eye. "Are you going to pat yourself on the back for it for the rest of eternity?"

"Probably. _Someone's_ got to do it."

"Someone-!" Thor laughed incredulously. "Brother, you have a _tribe_ of children falling over each other for the chance to pat you on the back hardest. I watched your practice."

He frowned. "You did not."

"…To the extent I could focus my gaze on anything," Thor amended. "Yes, I did. The children adore you."

That was true, certainly true, but out of habit he had to argue. "The children don't know me," he protested. It was equally true.

"Nobody knows you. _You_ don't know you." But Thor was clearly arguing reflexively too – he could not possibly know how true that was. "In any event, Loki: _this_ was not fair." He gestured around them. "You attacked without even giving me a chance to apologize."

 _Without-…?_ "You have had every moment from Sakaar to now to apologize," he said. "It just didn't occur to you that you had to. You take a lot for granted, brother."

Thor made a face. "Fine. Better late than never, I suppose: I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." He turned aside, idly, but winced when he caught an eyeful of himself in the mirror.

Loki wanted to keep fighting. "You were thinking well enough to plant that device – _in advance._ " But the way Thor stared at himself, touching the eyepatch as if he couldn't quite believe it was there, was softening him. _He_ had worn an eyepatch for two years and hated every minute. How much more terrible must it be to know that the disfigurement, the disability, were forever. "Which I admire, by the way," he added.

"I know." Thor turned to smile at him, then grew serious. "But I just meant, I didn't think it _through._ I thought it was clever. And I'll admit I was glad to see it hurt – you deserved it and don't pretend otherwise. I'm _not_ sorry I gave you a buzz. But I should not have left you that way. Your welfare _is_ important to me, and if it had occurred to me that I was risking it, I would have done something different. I wasn't thinking, and for that I am sorry."

He had nothing to say – he had too much to say. _You have owed me that since we were about eight years old._

"What?" Thor said, frowning at him.

He shook his head. "Nothing," he managed. He tried to laugh it off but no quip came to his tongue. Only the truth. "You never say that."

"I never…?" Thor huffed with disbelief. "What are you talking about – I apologize all the time! Come on. I have a girlfriend. Had," he corrected himself, wincing. "But a human girlfriend requires almost constant apology, whether or not you're wrong. I got used to it years ago."

"No, I meant-. Never mind." Words returned to him, thankfully, so that he could move Thor into less fraught waters. "I'm sorry about Jane, by the way. I did like her."

"And she, you." Thor was as easily distracted as ever, at the mention of a pretty face. "Despite everything. She returned from Svartalfheim without a scratch – because of you. She says you shielded her with your own body."

 _Yes – and all of Asgard knows it now; it was in my play._ But still, it was nice to have a little recognition offered freely, that he didn't have to lie cheat and steal to get.

"Loki, she mourned you too."

Suddenly Jane was much less appealing of a conversation topic. "That was nice of her. So, Thor. Do you mean to tell me you _don't_ plan on avenging yourself for what I just did to you?"

Thor shrugged. "I was wrong. You were unkind about it, but not unfair. There's nothing to avenge."

"Good. Excellent. Then-"

"But Loki." Thor spoke up firmly to silence him.

Ugh: here it came. The other shoe. "Yes?"

"You have been wrong too. Very wrong. And you have yet to apologize to me, or to Asgard or Earth or anyone else."

"I absolutely apologized to you!" he exploded. "As I lay _dying_ I apologized to you! That's all I _did_ was apologize!"

"As you-? _You weren't actually dying!_ "

" _I didn't fucking know that!_ "

They glared at each other.

"And- and that was a shit apology!" Thor sputtered after a moment. Still agitated, though at least no longer shouting. "You didn't even say what you were apologizing _for_!"

"Yes I did! I was extremely clear! I said-…" He stopped, remembering suddenly that he _hadn't_ , really. It was the one real liberty his play had taken with the truth. (Well, that and Odin. Odin hadn't been _nearly_ as wise and loving as he'd been given credit for.). "No, you're right," he admitted. "There were things I meant to say – wished I said – but I didn't."

"Mm. Yes, well." Thor shrugged, mollified. He even tried to give ground in return. "It was really windy; I probably wouldn't have heard you anyway."

He was starting to think that this new Thor really was an improvement over the brother he'd grown up with. But _just_ as that thought was crossing his mind, Thor went on: "Perhaps you'll decide to start apologizing properly, before _I_ decide to impose justice on you the way you just did to me." He beamed. "But that's entirely up to you."

He had no answer except an enormous scowl.

Thor went to leave – but paused at the door. "Oh, and if you're worried about your little confederate, don't be. The girl committed treason, but I'll forgive her." He turned to look over his shoulder. "I've got bigger fish to impose justice on."

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **Sorry, that was talky. Once the two of them get started, it's hard to shut them up! Let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

Loki never said what _fun_ he had ended up having with the king, but the next day Thor showed up at their morning training session.

Or before it, more like. He and Loki were both out of breath and sweaty by the time Sigyn got there, and she was one of the first, as always.

Thor and Loki had sticks. Two each. When the kids had all filed in they showed off a warmup drill that started slow but eventually got so fast that _she_ almost felt out of breath watching it.

They slowed it down again. Loki explained the technique of each step, over the noise of the sticks, and when they paused Thor explained it again.

Even though they had explained it twice, the boy Sigyn was paired up with didn't know anything – he clearly hadn't been paying attention. She had to teach him everything all by herself. She hoped Loki would notice what a good job she was doing.

Unfortunately Loki started on the other side of the room this time. Before long, though, she felt herself being watched by someone else.

She turned and saw that the king was right beside her.

"Mind if I cut in?" he said, and took her partner's place.

She tried to keep doing the drill. X-parry on her left. Strike to flank. X-parry on her right. Strike to belly. X-parry on her left…

"Commit more," Thor ordered. "More strength. Use your full body, not just your arm. You're not going to break me."

She tried. But even when she threw her whole bodyweight behind it she couldn't land anything really heavy, while the crack of _his_ sticks on _hers_ echoed through the hall.

"Come on." He was smiling, encouraging, easy. "You're supposed to be trying to hit me, remember?"

"I _know_. I _am_." Parry. Strike. Parry. Strike.

"That's better. Good – better. But block higher; I'm taller than you."

She parried at chest-level, instead of waist. "Like there?"

"Higher still. Yes. Faster now." Thor was still completely relaxed as he picked up the pace. "Good speed – without sacrificing your form. You have a talent for this, Sigyn."

Everyone had heard Loki speak to her on that first day, but now, they saw that Thor knew her name too! Snotty old Ayla was going to _die_ of jealousy.

She risked a glance in Ayla's direction, trusting her hands to know where to go-

 _CLUNK._ Ow. Dull shock of a blow, knocking her sideways. She blinked and tried to get her bearings. She'd caught it right on the cheekbone, _right_ on _-_ Ow. "Ow."

Thor had stopped immediately, sticks frozen in midair. "You all right?" he said.

Now it was starting to throb. Tender to the touch – she'd caught it _right_ on the cheekbone; it was going to be a lump. "I'm fine, Your Majesty. Just let me get some ice."

She sat down and took off her shoe. "What are you doing?" Thor said.

"What?" Then she laughed. Of course. He hadn't seen a practice before, so of _course_ she must look crazy. "Getting a sock," she explained. "We don't have a supply of fresh cloths lying around; if we want ice we have to put it in a sock."

"Oh, I see." But a moment later he had an even stupider question. "Where are you going to get ice?"

She looked up at him, but he didn't seem to be joking. "From Prince Loki," she said. She went over to him and he paused what he was doing to tend to her.

"What happened?" he said as he filled her sock with a neat column of blue freeze.

"Whacked in the head. I wasn't paying attention." She watched him effortlessly smash the sock up with his fist, and took the icepack from him with a smile. "Adults really do hit harder than kids."

Loki frowned. Looked over to where she had been practicing, then back at her face. "Thor did that?"

He sounded angry, so she instinctively denied it. "No!" But that was a lie. "I mean, it was an accident," she explained. "My fault."

Suddenly she could feel something big and dangerous behind her. "It was an accident, as she says." Thor spoke with authority. "But the fault was mine – I expected her to parry, because she had been. But she missed one, and I didn't pull the stroke in time."

It felt like when her parents had used to fight. And now, as then, she tried to smooth it over. "I looked away for a second – just a second," she said. "I know that's bad – I won't anymore."

"That had _better not_ happen again," Loki said.

She promised: "It won't." At exactly the same time Thor did. (And then she wondered who Loki had even been talking to.).

Loki snatched her ice pack and pressed it to her face. His other hand was digging into her shoulder, hard enough to hurt but she liked it. He was protecting her. And he was clearly upset. No _way_ would he be this upset over any of the others – especially Ayla! "Keep that there," he said. "If it swells anyway, come show me at lunch and I'll try to fix it."

"Okay," she said. "Thank you." She watched him go back to what he was doing, and then went to go get her sticks. Maybe she could figure out a way to get Thor to hit her again before practice was over.

* * *

Somehow, in contravention of all justice in the cosmos, _Thor_ once again found himself apologizing to his evil and reliably unrepentant brother. "It should go without saying, that that was actually an accident," he said once the children had left the practice hall.

Loki's mouth twisted. "It's always an accident with you, Thor."

What was _that_ supposed to mean?

Loki clarified it for him: "Though it's funny how the more angry at me you are, the more the _accidents_ seem to happen."

"Do I have to kick your ass again?" He threatened reflexively, with no seriousness at all, and he half hoped Loki would say yes. Their warmup this morning had been so gloriously familiar, comfortable, like sliding down into a hot bath. He hadn't realized how much he had missed it – his new Earth friends were excellent fighters all, but nothing could match the perfect harmony of a training partner of hundreds of years.

"Thor-." Loki licked his lips. "Forgive me, brother. I know you don't want to hear this. But, in all seriousness: I telegraphed big on your bad side – and you still missed a few." _No._ He would not hear it."What are you going to do?"

He _would not_ think about it. He couldn't. Not yet. If he lost his fighting skills there would be nothing left of him at all. "For starters," he said, "I'm going to ask you for ice. Since apparently that's a thing now." He held his hand out.

Loki looked from his hand to his face several times. Seemed to be steeling himself. And Thor gave him time; he understood, vaguely, that it was probably significant, that embracing the nature of a frost-giant (a frost-giant!) must be awkward and embarrassing and strange.

But if he would do it for the children…

Loki turned away. "I make them use socks," he said, as he moved to the side of the room. "But since I know how seldom you wash your socks, that would be inhumane in your case. I have a cloth. _Give it back when you're done_ ; I only have a few."

He ducked behind a weapons rack a moment – and Thor saw a flash of blue.

"There," he said, emerging with an icepack all ready. "Come on. Let's go."

It cut him deep. Loki, his _brother_ , would show this thing to strangers, and not to him?

"What?" Loki said. "Come on – we can't hang around forever; Valkyrie uses the room next."

"Why hide it from me?"

"Hide what?"

" _Loki_."

Predictably, Loki went on the attack. " _Hide_ it from you? I've been walking around the ship freezing things left right and center! Where do you think our fresh water's coming from?"

He… hadn't thought of it at all, actually. Perhaps Loki was right; he really did take a lot for granted.

"How do you think the machinery sustains _five times_ this ship's intended population without overheating?" Loki went on. Thor tried not to look as stupid as he felt. How would he even _know_ what the intended population was?

"Oh, and of course, Hela put a hole in our hull the size of your ego! Who do you think plugged it up?"

That, at least, he could respond to. "You mean to tell me we're flying around space in a ship that's held together by some kind of Jotun icicle?"

Loki shrugged. "If you have any better ideas, I'm all ears."

Apparently it was sturdy enough to travel with, but that didn't end the matter. "We're never going to make it to Earth," he pointed out. "We'll melt. Do you have any idea how hot their atmosphere gets when you enter it from without?" Jane and Selvig had explained this to him, excitedly. Wondered at how he was able to pass through without burning up.

Loki shook his head. "Thor, I promise you Earth's atmosphere won't be a problem. We're all going to starve to death before we're a quarter of the way there."

 _Shit._ He had taken food for granted too.

* * *

TBC.

Time for a pit stop! Lemme know what you think - I really appreciate the comments so far. I like to know what everybody thinks is interesting.


	5. Chapter 5

Even exhausted and dressed in rags, Heimdall looked formal and forbidding as usual. "I am trying to trust you, Loki."

He smiled. "Good."

"But you are not making it easy."

He sighed. "If you have something to complain about, please just come out with it. I don't have time for guessing games."

Heimdall laughed. "You mean you have done so much I could complain of that you're not even sure which I am talking about." He sighed. "Oh, Loki."

He felt himself slouching like a child. "Thor and the buzzer, I presume. You'll have seen it in Thor's mind."

"Or the girl's. She has some small gift of magic, but it's not nearly enough to shield herself from me the way you do."

He didn't like the reminder – once again – that he had made the poor creature into a criminal. "I have good reason to hide from you," he snapped instead. "You've betrayed me far too often."

Heimdall's face was untroubled. "I did not betray you last time," he said mildly. "I could have exposed you to Asgard, or called Thor, but I did not."

 _Or you could have done your fucking job and kept watch, instead of running off to play in the woods._

He kept his comeback to himself but it turned out restraint was pointless – Heimdall heard him anyway. "You would have had me help you deceive the people of Asgard. This I could not do." Then he dropped his gaze and rubbed himself awkwardly, as if for comfort. "Also I had been having… visions. Dreams perhaps. Of Asgard in ruins, and the mountain caves as a place of safety. I had to prepare them. I had a lot of work to do."

Loki blinked. Talk about taking things for granted – he had never even thought to wonder about how Heimdall had established his stronghold, or hidden it as long as he had. Still. "A warning to me, _your king,_ would have been appreciated," he snapped. "You know I take visions seriously. I would have given you the men you needed to do your work – you wouldn't have had to rely on those ridiculous peasants." Which reminded him. "Nice job on your admissions decisions, by the way. You saved the people who fled the city and the people who never lived there - namely, cowards and peasants. What about everyone else? Everyone at court – the ones who Odin had gathered to him." _Everyone who Odin thought mattered._

Heimdall snorted. "You think that Odin filled court with people who _mattered_? No. They were furniture for his pageant. Anyone capable of defending the realms or of coaxing food from the ground had other duties. I thought you knew that? You had such contempt for court after all."

 _And they tell me **I** am cold? _"Oh! Well, in that case it's fine that they were all butchered," he said lightly.

Heimdall waved it off. "It doesn't matter now. For better or worse this is who was saved - this is Asgard now."

Finally _he_ could supply some helpful information. "Well... this, plus whatever portion of Asgard's armies happened to be located elsewhere when Hela rampaged through the city," he corrected smoothly. He felt a smug smile coming on and didn't bother attempting to suppress it. "Odin had some men out on longstanding missions, and I've deployed a few groups over the past months that haven't yet returned home. Good, elite groups – ones I was worried about. Sif's crew is among them. It's about two or three hundred warriors in total."

Surprise was an unusual look on Heimdall, and he recovered quickly. "Mm. Retrieving them without the Bifrost will be difficult."

"Possibly. I have an idea."

"I'll bet you do." Heimdall widened his stance as if readying for a fight. " _No,_ Loki. That damned cube is dangerous. If _I_ can sense it, so can others. You'll draw enemies right to us."

He had thought as much himself, a hundred times. In the handful of seconds he had had to make decisions in Odin's vault, he had thought all of that through. "How big an idiot would I be to _leave the Tesseract_ to be destroyed?" he snarled. "And the Casket – which is mine by right; _I_ defeated the Jotun king. Odin had no better claim to it than that."

Heimdall ignored him. "In any case we cannot fit two or three hundred warriors on this ship. And if by some miracle we did, we could not feed them. We cannot even feed the population we have for much longer."

Loki laughed. "Oh, you noticed that too? I thought I was the only one!" He smirked. "Don't worry, though. I know a _great_ planet to steal spaceships from and their food is fantastic."

* * *

Loki hesitated outside the door – too long. "Brother, you don't have to do this," Thor said softly. And put a hand on his shoulder.

Loki shrugged it off. "Yes I do. You're too stupid to grasp even the basics of navigation without him, and I haven't the patience or the vocabulary to teach you – and I don't know enough anyway. I can get us to Sakaar – _anybody_ can get to Sakaar – but trying to take wormholes from there to Earth is more difficult. Which you would know, if you'd ever bothered to learn-"

"On second thought you _do_ have to do this!" Thor said brightly. "In fact why don't you just go in there on your own." He palmed the lock, shoved Loki through the door and slammed it behind him.

...And immediately regretted what he had done. " _THOR!_ " he heard, muffled, through the wall. Frantic pounding – Loki's fist. Then a slow, heavy tread that said the Hulk was on the move.

"All right – all right, I'm sorry," he called, fumbling with the lock, missing it until the third try. By the time he got the door open and got inside it would have been too late – except that the Hulk had opted not to attack; instead he was only squatting down to poke with one giant hand at Loki, who was huddled behind a hastily-conjured shield.

"Hey – what's going on in here?" Thor tried for a casual tone.

Hulk snorted. "Scared of Hulk."

"I'm- I'm not scared of you, you mindless meatbag," Loki snarled. He started, haltingly, to unfurl. "I'm just hoping you're not about to pick me up and bash me through the walls again, because this time we're on a fucking _spaceship,_ and if you put holes in it we'll all die."

"Hulk not die."

"Hulk is not going to bash anybody through anything," Thor said soothingly. "Isn't that right, my friend?"

"Hulk not friend."

"No, come on, we've been through that! Yes we _are_ friends!"

"NO!" The bellow shook the walls.

"Well, okay, fine! Whatever you say." His injured tone was mostly pretend. "But, Loki wants to try something. Will you sit still for it? It won't hurt."

The Hulk rumbled with laughter. "Hulk never hurt." He held still.

Loki's hands sketched patterns in the air. But after a few moments he shook his head. "No. It's not the right type of spell. I'll have to work out something else."

"What do you mean!" Thor hated to take his eyes away from the green ones... but honesty compelled him to admit that he had no real ability to transmit calm through his gaze anyway. "Loki, your spell held sway over the Allfather himself. You can't mean to tell me that-"

"That was a prohibition – not a compulsion! I forbade him to sleep; I forbade him to die. That was easy. This is different."

He blinked. He'd had no idea of the exact nature of Loki's spell, only that it had been powerful enough to keep Odin trapped on Earth. Phrased the way Loki did, it sounded much less sinister than what he had been envisioning.

But in any event. "I have seen you compel people, brother."

"With the scepter." Loki had by now edged so close as to be almost hiding behind him. "Now let's get out of here. I'm giving up."

Hulk rumbled. "Little god scared."

"Would you- would you stop that?" Thor sputtered, though he wasn't entirely sure he was talking to the Hulk rather than to his brother, who was now fully pressed up against him. He cleared his throat. "Loki: try the _other thing._ "

Loki had objected to this plan - who wouldn't? - but it was the only way Thor knew of reliably getting through.

Loki hissed. "Fine. All right. One try, _one,_ and then we go. Here _._ " He shimmered...

...And in his place stood the Lady Natasha. She gave a smile. "Hey – hi, big guy."

The looks were perfect, the voice perfect, but... the Hulk seemed to know that something was wrong. He leaned close, growling, and when he moved to touch her he wore a frown of suspicion. She shied away and conjured a knife.

"NO," Hulk roared. "NOT FRIEND!"

"Thor, open the door." It was an odd jarring mix of the lady's low tones and Loki's true voice, high and tight with fear. "Let me out."

"Of course, of course, here." Thor worked the lock, without taking his eyes from his friend's. "Hey, hey big guy, listen. We just thought you might appreciate seeing a friendly face, you know, we thought- hey-..."

Hulk's shoulders were heaving, his fists clenching and unclenching by his sides. Thor was almost grateful when Loki pulled him through the doorway and locked it behind them.

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **Sorry, took some time off to eat turkey :-)**

 **Let me know what you think so far! Next chapter is probably gonna be some action. And maybe some Korg!**


	6. Chapter 6

There were no free tables in the dining hall; Sigyn was going to have to sit with someone. Adults were better because they would usually ignore her, so she approached an unfamiliar old man who was reading at a table in the corner.

"May I sit?" she said, and he nodded without looking up from his book. She sat – and _just_ had time to feel that something was wrong before the old man melted away. "Prince Loki!"

"Enough with _Prince_ – we're not at court here."

"At practice you said we could call you Loki there and _only_ there," she shot back. It felt good to win an argument with him.

…But it only lasted a moment; his response was immediate. "People who try to move in with me are generally permitted to call me by my name wherever we are."

She blinked. "Oh… okay." She felt like she was swimming in water much too deep to stand up in. She felt stupid – and it was better to admit it than to bluff on and wind up feeling stupider. "Why?" she said. Then shook her head. "I mean, why are you being…" _Nice_ was wrong, but she didn't know another word.

He reached to her tray and took one of her cookies. "Why weren't you at practice?"

She'd missed today and yesterday – her first misses _ever_. She was glad he'd noticed. Or… she'd _thought_ she would be glad if he noticed, but now that he had she didn't know what to say.

"Sigyn?" he prompted.

"I-. Because…" She swallowed. And then just gave up the truth. "I heard you talking to Heimdall." He looked blank. "And I'm wondering: do you consider me more of a coward, or a peasant?"

Now she'd scored points – he stared at her for two full breaths before trying to answer. And even then, it was just a lot of blinks and then: "Oh."

She was still mad, her feelings were still hurt, but… it felt good anyway. She smirked at him, full with eyebrows. _Gotcha._

"Sigyn... look." He sighed. "I apologize if I offended you," he said, and no adult had ever given her such wide-eyed sincerity in all her _life_. She forgave him instantly. "Obviously you're neither. You're young and untrained for war, of course it was entirely right for you flee to Heimdall and I in no way meant to insult you with what I said." He cocked his head and suddenly looked a lot more _sharp_. "But I didn't say it to _you._ Which begs the question: have you been _spying_ on me? The answer is obviously yes, so what I really want to know is: how? The practice room is soundproof and hidden from magical eavesdrop. Isn't it?"

She shrugged. "I guess. I just opened the door and snuck in."

He was quiet a moment, then laughed. "Oh." But before she could get too comfortable, he was pressing her again. "You followed me?"

She shook her head. "I was just passing by, but I… felt you were in there. I can _feel_ people. I knew you were there with Heimdall, and I figured you were talking about the kids, so I went to take a look."

"You feel people," he repeated. "Interesting."

It seemed to impress him, so she bragged a little more. "I felt _you,_ " she said, "Just now, when I sat down. Even before you changed."

"You feel people even when they're more than they appear to be," he said, a little more thoughtfully. "That's _very_ interesting."

He was definitely impressed… and that made her brave enough to reach over and take one of _his_ cookies, and chomp right into it. "I guess I'm the most interesting peasant you know."

She didn't even see him move, but suddenly, the cookie in her hand was a crab, alive, its legs scrabbling at her wrist and its pinchers just inches from her face. She squealed and flung it to the floor, wiping her hands hard on her clothes to try and get rid of the feel.

Loki reached down and picked up the crab – and it was a cookie again. He took a bite and said "Mmm." Made a face at her that was a thousand times smugger than the smuggest face she had, and turned to go.

"I'll come to practice tomorrow," she called after him. After all, he and Heimdall had said they were going to be stealing spaceships, and if she wanted in on that, she would have to be ready.

* * *

They didn't let her. They _didn't let her go_ , not with any of the groups, and when she approached Loki privately he told her no without a moment's hesitation. "Diversions are extremely dangerous," he said. "My group will be trying to draw off the security forces, and if we actually get caught in a pitched battle, which is entirely possible, we'll be slaughtered."

She swallowed. " _You_ won't." Loki was invincible.

He gave a little laugh that sounded like surprise. "Hopefully not," he agreed. "I have options that others don't. But you'll notice I'm only bringing six people, and none of them are particularly warm friends of mine."

She didn't know what to say to that. Did he mean he was leading these people to their deaths on purpose?

"The plan, of course, is to lead a merry chase _without_ getting ourselves backed into a corner," he said, as if he'd heard her. "But you never know."

She couldn't really argue with him on that, so she changed tactics. "What about Heimdall's group? The green earth creature and that simple gladiator know the city; they're not going to get trapped anywhere. And if they did they could definitely-"

" _Do not._ Ever. Trust your safety. To the Hulk." She was frightened, until his terrible seriousness melted away. "Anyway they don't need you; they're to rob the supply areas and that creature can carry a thousand times what you can. Probably more."

He was right again. Still. "Fine, but what about-"

"No. You can't go with Valkyrie either; you don't know the first thing about stealing a spaceship."

"But I want to help! I want to _do_ something!"

He snatched her by the shoulders... but then let go, with a long slow exhalation. She was sure he'd meant to shake her. "You can do something by staying here," he said at last.

"With the stupid useless cowards and peasants and children?"

"With Thor. You can prevent _him_ from doing anything stupid - I mean it," he added, when she rolled her eyes. "I don't like leaving him without supervision, especially when he's itching to go do something. So: if he tries to deviate from the plan and run off, stop him. I can't think of a worse way for this to end than all of us make it back to the hangar and try to take off, except we can't, because Thor has disappeared off to the _rescue_ somewhere."

He sounded serious, but the idea of her stopping the king from doing anything was ridiculous. Especially now, when he was stomping around beside himself with rage for the same reason she was.

"Stop him how, exactly." She put her hands on her hips. "Stab him?"

"That should work. Avoid the vitals though. His side just above the belt line is usually okay."

He gave no sign that he was joking, but of course he had to be. "Got it," she laughed. "My job is to stay here and stab the king."

His turn to roll his eyes. " _Fine,_ " he said. "If that sounds like it's beyond you: here." He reached into somewhere – the air? A pocket nobody could see? – and pulled out the little disc he had once asked her to stick on the king before practice. "If Thor tries anything stupid, you can stop him with this. Just make sure you tell him it was my idea."

* * *

Having a secret set of instructions from Loki was so exciting Sigyn felt a little breathless. She didn't faint though. Not when they landed their ship at a busy public pad and sent the groups out. Not while they waited the allotted time, Thor pacing restlessly and muttering to himself about being a _babysitter_. Not when they brought the ship to the hangar nearest the supply area, where they were supposed to pick everyone up after the victorious mission.

She didn't even faint when the Sakaar soldiers who were waiting there for them, all spattered with Asgardian blood, announced through the speakers: "Surrender, or join your friends."

But she did faint when they poured a heap of ashes on the ground and dropped Loki's helmet on top of it.

* * *

 **TBC**.

Sorrrrry for the cliffie! Resolution will be forthcoming, hopefully. Along with some battle. Let me know what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

From behind him there was a collective gasp, some shrieks, some _NO!_ , and a thump that might have been fainting. But Thor stood impassive, waiting on the ship's ramp, hands on his hips.

People had thrown Loki's helmet at his feet more times than he could count. He always welcomed it, because the golden horns meant that Loki was alive – they were a glamour that would not outlive him.

Today the left horn was undamaged, but the right one noticeably askew. As per their old signals, this meant that Loki was uninjured, and nearby. But where? Could he now walk fully invisible, or was he disguised as part of this band of enemy soldiers?

Thor looked at the leader most carefully – the woman. He remembered her. She still carried the staff with which she could vaporize her victims at close distance. (He did not believe she would be able to do it from afar, which is why he preferred to stay up near the top of the gangway as long as possible.).

"Is that any way to treat your guests?" he called at last. Trying to see if she was winking or signaling anything to him.

"Guests?" The woman repeated without emotion. "No, you're prisoners. Or corpses. Your choice." He could see nothing of Loki in her.

He looked next to her entourage. They were a motley crew unimpressive by their dress, but there were dozens of them – and he was still not yet entirely comfortable fighting without his hammer, let alone his eye. And, to make matters worse, many of the enemy carried projectile weapons, including the buzzing kind that could incapacitate him completely. If he went down, the children on the ship ( _Asgard's future,_ Heimdall had reminded him severely, when he balked at standing guard over them) would be left completely defenseless.

He took a few slow steps closer – hands spread as if in surrender. "Right, all right, okay," he soothed. Then he raised his voice. "Ready when you are, Loki!"

The soldiers looked around... but nothing happened immediately.

And then one of them pointed. " _Mistress is hurt!_ " he shrieked. " _Get help!_ "

Aha – _there_ was Loki. While everyone turned to the leader and she looked down at herself in puzzlement, for of course she was _not_ hurt, Thor had an instant to gather power.

The soldiers noticed him crackling almost immediately, but it was already too late. "Get down!" Loki screamed. People reacted on instinct, flinching or ducking or hitting the ground entirely, and Thor struck.

* * *

 _Thanks, Thor._ Loki clung to that one resentful thought as he was flung through the air. He'd needed maybe half a second longer to get out of range, but as usual Thor had thundered first and looked around later, and now-

 _OW._

He hit the floor hard but he was conscious. Thank the gods, or Thor might have just killed him where he lay. He got up as fast as he could, too dizzy to remove his glamour properly, just raising a hand to croak: "Me!" His other hand went to his eyes; he couldn't yet see. He raised his voice as best he could. "It's me!"

"What _you_?" Thor called back – clearly joking, but it was no time to joke. Loki could hear grunts and weapons. Soldiers were already recovering, and even with Thor killing as fast as he could they would run out of time.

He tripped over one who was starting to stir, and bent to cut his throat by the feel of it. "I can't see – keep away!" He conjured longer blades than he was used to; blind knife fighting was much too dangerous. He felt someone to his left and spun to slash them through the middle. Spun again for good measure, and caught someone else. He felt more soldiers still on the ground, and stabbed them several times each before stepping over.

He was at the back of the crowd, though. The bulk of the fight would be up with Thor and _he had to get there._ He advanced, firing blades. Hopefully not at his brother. "Where are you?"

" _You've got to be kidding me!_ " Perhaps Thor could see what he was doing, and didn't approve of him doing it sightless. Perhaps he just didn't like the use of Hela's spell – although, they were short little blades, not the ridiculously oversized javelins their sister favored, so he might not even realize the magic was the same.

His vision was finally starting to return – somewhat. He could see the room. The blurs that were battle. That was good enough, so he tossed down his swords and drew his real knives, exchanged his disguise for his helmet, and got busy.

* * *

Once the enemy were all dead, Thor made his way to his brother's side. "I told you you love _get help_."

It looked like there was a smile hiding under the exasperation. "Yes, and I love it when you light up the whole _area where I'm standing,_ too. Have I forgotten to tell you how much I enjoy that?"

As he shook out his clothes the smell of burnt hair wafted off him, and Thor was a little less sure, then, of his mood. "Are you okay?"

Loki looked startled. "I'm fine," he said at last, oddly short. "I needed another second to get clear, but I was far enough away not to fry too badly." _Then_ he smiled, but it was not a very reassuring smile. "Anyway I knew it was coming."

"Well-... if you need anything, I can get you a..." he frowned. He didn't know what kind of first aid you were supposed to offer for lightning strikes. He had lit up thousands, _tens of thousands_ of beings over the years – including his own friends – and he had never thought to ask.

"Thor?" Loki reached out for him. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Hm? Oh – yeah." It hadn't been much of a fight, and anyway, injury never bothered him.

"Good. Listen, how old were we the first time Odin let us see a battlefield?"

"What?" He was only half listening; he was still trying to work out whether or not he owed an apology. "I don't know... ten?"

"Fine." Loki turned towards the ship. " _Anybody ten and older_ ," he shouted, "Get down here and loot these bodies!" He turned to Thor. "We can get the clothes and weapons, and maybe do some repair work on the ship. We'll have time. Because, the Hulk stopped cooperating. That's why things went so badly wrong."

" _What_?"

"Does that _surprise_ you? That creature is-"

"Let go of me." He cleared away Loki's grabbing hands, easily. "I'm going. Heimdall will need help, he can't-"

"Heimdall is not stupid enough to _fight the Hulk_ , Thor, will you please calm down! It's a matter of talking sense into him. I'll go. I'll take care of it."

"No." No, he would not calm down, _no,_ Loki would not run off into the fray and leave him here. But by now several of the children had made their way down from the ship and were approaching, so Thor paused and nodded in their direction. "Let's not do this in front of them, brother."

"Do _what_ in front of them." Loki's venomous hiss was not a question.

"You know what." He stepped closer and lowered his voice. "That's an order, and I'm prepared to enforce it." He let a little lightning flash across his face so that Loki could not fail to understand.

He really did not want to shame his brother in front of the only people in all the realms who held him in high regard. But he _would not_ be made to stay and babysit again. Not when there was fighting to be done.

"Come on, Loki. These are your children." Perhaps an appeal to his obvious affection for them? "You have to stay here and protect them."

"Of the two of us, you're by far the more effective bodyguard," Loki said, also quiet – but steely. "Getting through this place to find the creature needs wits and sneaking."

Thor pushed away the thought that Loki was probably right. "I said I'm going. Stand aside."

Loki cleared his throat. " _Peasant,_ " he said firmly. " _Now_."

The world disappeared into the hideous pain of electrocution. All Thor could think was _How_? and _Not fair_ as he hit the floor.

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **Let me know what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

Sigyn stared in horror at the king, jerking and writhing on the ground. No telling how long she would have stood there, if Loki hadn't come and snatched the remote out of her hand. "This is the off button," he said loudly, pointing, showing it to everyone. "Get to it as soon as you can."

He blasted the remote with a coating of ice and set it on the floor.

"Now come on," he said, and tugged her along. "We need that food – let's get this done."

"Me?" she said – and immediately hated herself. What a stupid, _stupid_ thing to say! Loki was physically dragging her along with him as he fled the scene, _obviously_ he meant her, who else could he be talking about!

"Anyone," he said shortly. "Two people walking together is much less suspicious than one person sneaking around alone." He pulled her until they were out of the hangar, and the door had closed behind them. Then he let go, heaved a huge sigh, and leaned against the wall with his eyes closed.

"Are you… okay?"

"Yes," he said at once. "Just waiting for the battle to drain out of my blood."

He said _battle,_ but she suspected that what he really meant was _fear._ She swallowed. "Is the king going to… be angry about this?"

"He'll probably kick my ass, but it's fine." He opened his eyes. "I won't allow him to lay a hand on _you_ , though."

She had just seen Thor fell an entire battlefield by stomping on the ground, but when Loki promised to protect her from him, she felt completely safe. "Thanks," she said, as casually as she could. "So… Ready to sneak around?"

"In a minute – we need to disguise ourselves first. You did well, by the way. Not too fast on the trigger, and then you acted promptly when I told you to."

Which reminded her… "Thanks. But next time could you maybe say something other than _peasant_?"

He shrugged. "That was expedient; we can establish better code words later." He started sketching runes into the air. "Now here's your disguise. Sorry about this."

His magic was aggressive; she sneezed so hard her head spun. When she managed to look down at herself she discovered she was decked in gauze and sparkles, half naked… and _very_ much grown up.

"Oh boy." She started covering herself instinctively, but her enormous illusory chest felt so strange that she found her hands squeezing at it instead.

Loki looked away. "Try to stop doing that," he laughed.

"Oh. Right." She giggled a little herself, and tried to stand normally. The chain belt decoration around her illusory hips clinked, and she touched it in wonder. "Wow. You do _really_ good illusions."

Smirk. "I know." Then he cleared his throat and got serious. "Now: that getup will occupy everybody's attention. You'll wear these," he magicked a set of shackles, "And everyone will think you're a bed slave. Or-… whatever they call them here." He made a face. " _Romance-oriented prisoners,_ I think. I'll be the scrapper, plain rags, who owns you."

"Okay."

"Don't speak unless I order it, don't make eye contact with anyone. Just walk with me and shake what I gave you. But mind the cuffs; if you pull on them they'll disappear."

"Okay."

Loki grinned at her. "You're much better suited to this than Thor. I put _him_ in a form like that once and he completely hit the ceiling."

They were almost the same height now. It felt so strange to smile at him head on, instead of up from below. It made her stomach flutter hard, which made her realize: "I'm scared."

"See? _Much_ better than Thor." He shimmered into his own disguise. "Let's go."

* * *

The girl kept close to him as they walked. Her courtesan slippers kept her footsteps silent, but her decorations jingled if he pushed the pace. So much the better – the more attention _she_ drew the less there was for him. When people passed them and aimed noises of appreciation in their direction, he would nod a greeting while she lowered her eyes, bit at her (excessively full) bottom lip, and dipped a tiny curtsy.

 _Much_ better than Thor. Except, of course, for when they passed through hallways that were empty. During those times she would talk to him – and her words were more annoying than even his brother's.

"Do you really think the king is going to try and _do_ something to me?" she said once. "Because, I'm just saying, the best way to prevent that would be to take me into your household officially."

He ignored her.

"Because, that way it would be my actual legal duty to obey you. So, I wouldn't be in trouble for anything you told me to do. It's a good idea, right?"

He ignored her.

"Loki? It would be really easy. You just agree to stand as parent for me. You'd just have to _say_ it, you wouldn't have to actually _do_ anything."

He ignored her.

"Loki?"

Damn, she was persistent. "My own experience with adoption was far from pleasant," he said, to end the discussion, "And I have no desire to recreate that dynamic with a stranger."

She banged her waist jewelry with her bound hands to make a discordant clang. "I'm not a stranger!"

"Be quiet."

She obeyed that, at least. They passed through a crowded recreation area and two more staircases before she spoke again.

"Anyway: what do you mean _far from pleasant_ ," she said after the long silence. "Odin loved you."

"Odin-." He bit back the rest. "I don't want to talk about Odin," he said instead. Of _course_ she didn't know; he had made it impossible for anyone to know; he had spent two years weaving an elaborate story of a loving royal family and cramming it down everyone's throats. _Odin sentenced me to eternal imprisonment,_ he wanted to tell her. _And it would have been death if my mother-… pardon, if his wife, the woman who lied to me my whole life about all I held dear… if she hadn't intervened._

"Okay fine. But can we at least talk about-"

"Shut it – someone's coming." He reached for her and tugged her by the arm. "When they get near I'll drop something. Pick it up – and give them a show."

In this new, flamboyant form the girl was awkward and lacked grace, but even so, when she bent over it was a sight worth seeing. The four men who were passing them stopped to watch and whistle; one even looked like he might make a grab for her.

"Good job," he said once they were gone. "Now come on, we're almost there. The Hulk's old quarters are in this coming tower."

He didn't allow himself to wonder what he would do if the Hulk was _not_ lurking in his old quarters as expected.

He was Loki. He would think of something.

* * *

Heimdall had been standing at attention for half an hour, outside the green berserker's door, pretending that he belonged here. Two people, some sort of patrol, had once stopped to ask what he was doing, but his answer: "Standing guard," plain and ominous, sent them away.

He waited because he knew the girl Sigyn was coming, and since she was feeling cocooned and protected, Loki must be coming too. When they finally arrived he gave a disapproving head-shake. "You should not shield yourself from me when we need to communicate."

Loki shrugged off a disguising charm. (Which made Heimdall notice that Sigyn still wore one. A distastefully suggestive form, but he understood the need of it; it would make travel through this den of hedonism much easier.). "I knew you could track the girl. Listen – there was trouble."

"I know." He had sensed death. But also victory. "You defeated large numbers. Do you think they have more patrols of that size nearby?"

"No idea. The old leader is gone, Thor just killed the old second in command. I have no idea who's in charge now and no idea how tightly the place is policed. We need to get what we came for and get the hell out of here."

"I agree." Just then a smash from within disturbed their conversation, so he explained it. "We fashioned a frame as planned and loaded it, but when it came time for the Hulk to drag it back to the ship he refused – he said he is home, and not leaving."

"He needs a little convincing, that's all." Loki cracked his neck. "Get your group and go help guard the ship – Thor can't be expected to defeat all comers by himself."

There was something untrustworthy about Loki just now… but he almost _always_ reeked of deceit, and of late it seemed to be safe to trust him anyway. Heimdall nodded, and beckoned to the girl.

She shook her head and didn't move.

"Sigyn." Loki grasped her jaw – not gently. "I take risks, but not unnecessary and stupid ones. Go." Then he looked up. "Heimdall, take care of her. If Thor's upset about the circumstances under which we departed, tell him it was my fault – not hers."

"Of course." (He would pull the story from her mind momentarily.). He clasped Loki's hand, and through the contact was able to learn that although Loki was terrified, he had a plan. Something underhanded – he couldn't tell more than that. "Good luck, Prince."

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **Okay, everybody put your helmets on for the next one… :-)**


	9. Chapter 9

He knew better than to think he stood a chance in combat, not least because he had not yet recovered from his memory of the last time. _While I am the first to warn against the dangers of **over** confidence,_ he'd lectured his class just last week, _Understand that without confidence, you cannot win._

Fighting the Hulk with his knives and his magic was out - but that did not mean he had to rely on his words alone.

He blasted the door open and strode in with confidence, holding up a hand in greeting as if he thought this meeting _wasn't_ headed to a bloodbath.

"Hi," he called. "Thor sent me to look for you. You were supposed to return to the ship."

"No. Hulk stay. Little god go. Go _now_!" the beast roared. "Before Hulk smash!"

"Look," Loki said, "This really isn't fair. _I_ don't pound on _you_ when you're in your lesser form, so I think you really ought to return the favor."

It paused – confused, likely.

"What I mean is I've never transformed into a monster and crushed Banner to bits," he clarified. "Though I could."

The Hulk snarled and cleared a shelf of bottles with one swipe of its hand. "Hulk Hulk. Banner Banner. Not _form_."

Did his disclosure make no impression at all? "Whatever. Look here: this is what I am." He vanished his clothes and transformed without further ado.

The Hulk stared at him. He didn't look down to stare at himself, though he badly wanted to. He had shown no one this form. He hated it. But it was tall and strong and savage – a fair match.

"Little god blue," the Hulk said at last.

"I'm not a god, you cretin, I'm a frost-giant," he rumbled. In a voice even deeper, now, than his enemy's. "Have you never seen one before? It's a, a, a kind of monster." He had never thought his transformation into an abomination could be so... underwhelming.

The green face creased into a big smile. "Hulk like monsters. Hulk smash monsters!"

Loki snorted. "Try to smash _this_ monster and I'll put your balls in a freezer."

It took a step forward. Reached out slowly, as if to prod him...

Loki grew an ice club and knocked the huge hand aside.

The Hulk laughed. Swatted again – one hand, and then the other. Loki blocked both.

"Hulk like eating popsicles." It showed its teeth.

"Try me – you _thing._ "

As expected, the truth set the beast off and it lunged forward. But Loki was ready, and blew him backwards with a two-handed blast of ice.

The Hulk shook himself off, snarled, and charged for true.

* * *

He had been using the ice a lot, lately. He had gotten good at it and it erupted with the force of a geyser, a stream that could have killed with its power even absent the bitter, bitter cold of its freeze.

The Hulk, of course, did not die of it. Only roared and lowered his green shoulder and fought the stream head on. Trying with all his fantastic might to reach him.

 _Never again._ He froze harder, more, glorying in the brute strength of it before finally admitting that he was not going to be able to overpower the Hulk no matter what he did. So he dropped to a knee, still freezing, and lowered the stream of his attack from the body to the legs.

The Hulk stumbled, fought for balance, but on the iced floor there was no chance. He lost his footing and crashed to the ground, still bellowing with rage, shielding his face from the stream with one hand as he scrabbled for purchase with his other.

Loki paused a moment; he shouldn't exhaust himself. He wanted to go in and give the creature a good hard kick instead, but he would be an idiot to get within reach of those massive fists.

So he grew a big jagged icicle, and launched it with a bastardization of Hela's trusty magic. Crude and inefficient; with work he could do better, but… it was effective. The Hulk rocked with the force of the blow, reared off to the side, still on his knees.

When he faced Loki again he had stopped roaring. In the sudden quiet, even a growling whisper was enough to terrify. "Hulk hate snowball fighting," he grated. "Come here, ice god."

" _Come here_?" Loki repeated in disbelief. Coming from a Jotun voicebox, his sound of derision was deep and unfamiliar. "You think I want to fight you hand to hand?"

The Hulk laughed. "No." And launched himself, from his knees, to tackle like a freight train.

He was startlingly _fast_ for a thing that size. Loki couldn't react in time; he was grabbed around the chest and lifted as the Hulk finally got his feet under him.

 _Shit_.

A good hard two-handed squeeze, and pop went some ribs. He couldn't breathe against the pain. The Hulk was grinning up at him. His arms were crushed down against his sides, but his hands were free so he froze the floor, and then fired hard and sharp into the Hulk's belly. The Hulk's involuntary jerk cost him his stability, and with a combination of wild thrashing and freezing, Loki was able to bring them both to the ground.

The fall was agony. He was so badly damaged that even when he was released he couldn't twist to get up off the floor.

 _Need to splint and protect,_ he ordered himself. _Now._ He did it with ice, encasing himself in a thick exoskeleton that made moving difficult but at least provided some support. _Now get up_.

He did, bellowing near as loud as his enemy, and backed away because he'd be damned if he let those monstrous paws anywhere near him now.

"Snowball fight it is," he snarled, blanketing the Hulk in his own coating. He made sure to target the head, to prevent the beast from breathing… but the beast punched at its own face without hesitation to shatter the ice and clear the obstruction away.

Loki stared: blood was pouring down out of the Hulk's nose.

 _Brilliant_. He aimed a stream between the creature's legs, and sure enough it thundered " _TOO COLD_!" and pounded its own crotch with its fist. Fell to a knee with a bestial noise of pain.

So Loki coated the face again, and used the reprieve to erect an icy barricade so that the Hulk could not grab him by surprise a second time.

"All right – enough," he said, as the Hulk scrubbed at his battered face and gasped for breath. "Enough, all right? Enough. Can we talk?" He repeated _enough_ and _can we talk_ until the green face was at last clear of ice and the creature standing still. "So – can we?"

The Hulk growled softly, but didn't attack. "Feet cold."

"What? Oh." Loki looked down. His own bare feet were comfortable, and ridged to provide traction on the ice, but he supposed he could understand the Hulk's objection. "You want a rug or something?"

"Feet cold," he repeated. "Hulk's room all cold!" He turned and kicked at one of the frozen heaps that their fight had left, whining like an aggrieved child. "Full of snow!"

"Yes. I know, I'm… I'm sorry. I'm sorry about your room. I'm sorry, all right?"

"Mm. Hulk know how to accept apologies." He dug through the snow to find a rug, which he shook out and plopped down on cross-legged. "Sorry bout squeeze, ice god."

"Yeah, that… that wasn't very nice."

A sullen shrug.

"Do you… feel better now?"

A grunt. "Hulk like fighting."

He supposed that that was a yes? "Okay, good. So let's talk."

The Hulk scowled and looked away… but gestured to the rug next to him.

 _I take risks,_ he reminded himself. This was a good one. He came close, and transformed back out of his jotun form.

" _Ah-_ get this off me," he gasped, knocking on the icy shell he'd encased himself in. Ribs hurt too much to struggle with it himself. "Fuck I'm cold. Come on, hurry."

The Hulk looked over at him, and laughed. "Ice god stuck."

"Shut up; _your_ other form would take it just as hard," Loki snarled. "Get up and help me."

The Hulk lumbered to his feet and reached out. "No other form," he said. "Hulk Hulk. Banner Banner."

"Fine, okay okay- _ah!_ – thanks." When the ice was cracked he was able to shrug out of it. He dressed himself with magic because dressing by hand would be much too painful, and then faced the creature to make his play.

"All right, listen. Thor sent me to convince you to return to the ship and fly off with us," he reported. Then rolled his eyes. "It's like he's forgotten my signature move."

Hulk cocked his head in question.

"I betray my own allies. Every damn time." He spread his hands with a little bow. "I don't want you on that ship either. So let's work something out."

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **:-)**


	10. Chapter 10

Thor recovered quickly from his latest buzzing – or at least made sure to give the appearance of having done so – and set about commanding his forces. Such as they were.

There were a few adults, but they were mainly weak, old, injured. On balance they were actually of less use to him than Loki's children, so in the end, Thor did a lot of the heavy lifting himself.

 _He_ collected mechanics from other vehicles in the hangar, by a combination of wheedling and threats and bribery, and set them to work repairing the ship. _He_ cleared a path for the fast loading of whatever supplies the Hulk returned to them. _He_ affixed guns to the ship as best he could, with very little idea of whether they were the right guns or how to work them, and appointed gunners. (He decreed that anyone over the edge of eight could serve as a gunner. It seemed a reasonable number?).

The work helped him feel less restless. Otherwise, he would have gone mad just pacing and seething and waiting for Loki to return.

It was Heimdall who returned first. With his fighters… and a voluptuous woman who was apparently Sigyn in disguise, which Thor did not ask any questions about, because he felt it was impolite to pry into his brother's private affairs (though they were hardly _private,_ with the way he had dressed her.).

She made a deep obeisance and said: "Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness for attacking you earlier. I have no excuse to make; I can only hope that you-"

"No excuse save that my brother put you up to it," Thor interrupted grimly. "It's all right: I will take care of Loki. You go inside – before you catch cold in that ridiculous outfit."

He had more important things to worry about than Sigyn for the time being: before much more time had passed, there was a rumble in distant hallways. Heimdall closed his eyes to listen. "He is coming," he said at last.

Thor ordered his warriors to prepare themselves, then stepped to the front of the group with Heimdall by his side. "Best of luck, my friend," he murmured.

"We will not need luck, my king."

The doors blew open and of course it was Loki, in full battle dress, arms raised. Behind him stood the Hulk – harnessed to the biggest mountain of crates and barrels Thor had ever seen.

 _Your savior is here,_ Thor thought, more than a little sour. But though applause arose Loki did not stand still to savor it. He merely waved once, ducked his head in acknowledgment and proceeded.

He looked, to Thor's eye, pained and serious.

"There you are – you've returned!" Thor called out across the hangar and started walking to meet them.

Loki approached too, and when they met in the center of the floor, unexpectedly dropped to one knee and saluted. "I've brought the supplies you asked for, brother," he announced, then lowered his voice before continuing: "Please take it easy for the moment; I have been seriously fucked up."

Thor looked him over as he rose slowly to his feet. "You're walking, talking." _Grandstanding._ "What's the matter?"

"Your friend cracked me like a bundle of sticks."

The Hulk huffed with effort and dragged his load a little closer. "Sorry, ice god."

 _Ice god_? So Loki had shown off his abilities.

"I'm surprised, actually," Loki said. "I had thought frost-giants were a little more durable."

 _Frost-giants?_ "You assumed the Jotun form for him." He could not just let it pass. "And yet you won't even talk about it to me?"

Loki did not answer. Before Thor could press, though, the Hulk announced his own bad news. "Bring present for Thor. Big heavy present. Now Hulk go home. Bye, Thor."

"Bye? What- what do you mean bye?" Thor sputtered. He hoped he was misunderstanding… but the Hulk was untangling himself from his makeshift harness and looking to the door.

Loki spoke up. "He means he likes Sakaar, and he doesn't want to come with us," he explained. "It was all I could do to get him to drag that load out here. He doesn't like living on the spaceship."

"But-… We're stealing a _new_ spaceship!" was the best Thor could come up with.

"I'm sorry, brother."

Thor watched his friend step out of the traces, and wave farewell. "No. _No_!" he insisted.

Loki laughed. "What are you going to do – kidnap him? Force _the Hulk_ onto a spaceship, and see how long it stays aloft? I remember how well that worked for Fury's helicarrier."

He ignored that; there would be plenty of time later to make Loki sorry. "Wait, big guy, you can't _leave_." He started to chase after him as he strode away with loud, purposeful steps. "Hulk – come _on_! We're friends, remember?"

"Friend needed food. Now Hulk need bath. Bye Thor."

Suddenly Loki was at his shoulder. "Hush," he said – and gave a squeeze, as he elbowed past. "Hey – Hulk!" he called. "Listen – thank you for your help. And, I want to tell you something."

The Hulk paused. "Hm?"

"Come here – it's a secret. Come here." Loki was beckoning. And his tone was smooth, friendly…

Suspiciously so. Thor knew he could not _really_ be in this good a mood, and he did not _really_ like the Hulk in the first place.

But the Hulk crouched low. "What secret."

"This." Loki suddenly clamped both hands over the Hulk's temples and closed his eyes.

For one long moment they froze like that – still and silent, save for the Hulk's low raspy breathing.

…which was growing faster and faster, as if in agitation.

Suddenly the Hulk roared and reared up, throwing Loki through the air.

" _NO_ ," Loki screamed, and " _No no no FUCK-_ ", but when he hit the ground he immediately became limp and silent.

Not the Hulk, though. _He_ roared and moaned and clutched at his head. Stumbling around.

Shrinking.

* * *

When Loki awoke there was a woman fussing over him – a sexy woman, and scantily clad, and stroking his face.

"Hi," he said nuzzling into her hand for a second.

Then his mind came back to him and he recoiled. "Ah, fuck – sorry. Sorry, I'll take it off." He fought his hands free of the blankets – _his_ blankets; he was in his room – and cast the magic necessary to remove the girl's disguise. "There you go. Sorry."

"It's okay." She was smiling. "I got a lot more _done_ in that body. People listen better when you're a grownup."

 _Particularly when you're a grownup with a rack like that._ He cleared his throat. "Listen to what? How did you get in here?"

She shrugged and looked away. " _Somebody_ had to take care of you," she said – and there was an edge of childish defiance to it. "The earth man wanted to come in – Banner – he said he's a healer. But he's… he's still the green beast inside. I could sense it in him. What did you _do_ to him, by the way?"

"Just dug around in his memories to show him a couple of things. Go on."

"Okay. Well, I could sense the green beast still – I don't think Banner is all the way in control." She looked back, met his eyes, and raised her chin. "So I told him no."

He had to laugh. "You told him no," he repeated – slowly, as he fought his way to a sitting position. He was glad that though she reached uncertainly to help him, she didn't fuss or object or tell him to lie back down. "You know that most of earth has trouble telling that man _no_."

"I told Thor no, too." She rose from her chair and moved to help him get his feet to the floor. "He didn't really _ask_ though – he just sort of looked at me like he was asking."

In his experience, a plaintive Thor was even harder to resist than an angry one. "Sigyn." He tipped her chin up so he could look her in the eyes for Maximum Sincerity. "You did well. Thank you for standing guard over me."

She melted visibly.

He cleared his throat. "Now tell me what I missed."

She cleared her throat too, and bustled around supporting him as he worked to stand. "Well, they brought you in and the healers tried to help you. We don't have anybody really skilled though, and no equipment, so you're not exactly good as new. They don't want you moving around or fighting for another week – you had some broken ribs, more than from when he threw you just now."

"Yes. Earlier on he took hold and squeezed." But there were more important things to deal with than recounting what wrongs had been done him: he had felt the ship moving as he woke up. Perhaps, actually, the takeoff was what had awoken him. "Where are we?" He was making his way to the window.

"Still on Sakaar. You were only out an hour or so; we've been loading up all the supplies." She sighed. "Then Valkryie called in for help. She got a ship, she's at the meeting place, but they're under attack."

He finally reached the window and peeked out. They were flying low, fast but not frantic, over Sakaarian junkyards. "And we're going to, what – reinforce them?" He tried to think. "How? _They_ have all the warriors."

"Not _all_ the warriors. We have Heimdall's crew. And Thor. And you, if you were in condition to fight, which you're not, so."

He huffed. "I have fought in considerably worse condition than this." In pain and misery, hating every second. He wished with all his might to just crawl back into bed, but. Duty called.

"Gather up the regulars who come to practice," he said. "Anyone over the age of, say, eleven."

" _Over_ eleven," she said, "Or eleven and up?"

Better safe than sorry; they would need every recruit they could get. "Eleven and up."

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **(Don't worry, Loki may be crazy but he's not _that_ crazy…)**


	11. Chapter 11

She made the announcement with gleeful excitement. "Loki says we're going to fight," she told them. "Everyone eleven and over. We go to the corridor outside his room so he can give us instructions."

"And weapons?" someone said. Half a dozen kids answered at once.

" _I_ got weapons," one said. "From one of the dead bodies."

"No fair! You were supposed to put them all in the pot!"

" _I_ don't have any weapons, Sig – where can I get one? It's not fair – the dead guys' weapons were all gone once I got there."

"Sig? I'll be eleven in a month. I can come too, right? Right? Hey!"

She stopped listening, though, because she sensed power in the next corridor. The king was coming – and she knew, somehow, that if he found out about this he would stop them. "Quiet!" she barked, projecting her voice the way Loki did at practice. "Go _now_!" She herded the kids around the corner and hurried them on their way.

Loki was waiting for them, in full armor and looking completely ready to fight. Sigyn would have thought he was fine – if she hadn't just seen him need help to get out of bed. He held up one hand for quiet. "Everyone calm down," he said firmly, and the kids stilled. "You have a role in this battle and it's important – but with any luck you will not actually be expected to fight anyone. Pay attention."

He sculpted shapes of ice on the floor. "Here's where we will land," he said. "Here is Valkyrie's ship, and the forces that are attacking her." She edged closer – some of the bigger kids were trying to crowd her out. "Our warriors – Thor at the head – will attack from behind. The enemy won't stand a chance." He looked around – and happened to notice her fighting for position. Without a word he leaned over, took her wrist and tugged her from between the boys.

Once she was standing next to him she could see much better, as he conjured another set of ice shapes. "Now here's our ship. I don't want any bright stars to come steal our ship when we're not looking, so, here is you." He pointed with a trail of sparks. "You all will form up just outside, and defend the ramp." _Defend the ramp_ sounded important and dangerous, but he was quick to spoil the excitement. "With this many of you I don't think anyone will come try." She hoped not, she supposed, but still. "Just in case, though, I'll leave two or three actual warriors with you. And you all will stand at attention with them, like you've practiced, or stomp around waving spears."

One of the little boys raised his hand. "We don't have spears."

Loki grinned and stood up tall. "I'll take care of that. Now everyone hold still; this is hard en masse." He paused a moment and turned to look down at her. "Sigyn – you too. Get over there."

She hated to leave his side, but she also didn't want to miss whatever spell he was about to lay down. She went to stand with the others, closed her eyes… and sneezed like hell when the magic overtook her.

When she looked around, the children had all been replaced by tall strapping Asgardian warriors, full battle dress, with long spears.

She looked at her own spear. It _felt_ real enough in her hand, but she remembered the shackles. "Loki?" she asked. "Will these actually kill anyone? And will the armor actually protect us?"

"No," he said shortly. "So if you have any real knives, or anything else you like killing with, bring them along, just in case."

* * *

The assault on Valkyrie's stolen ship looked beyond uncoordinated; it appeared to be several warring groups of raiders whose allegiances seemed to vary by the minute. The raiders were trying to gain entry into the vessel, which they had frozen in some sort of tractor beam whose origin Loki traced to one of the taller piles of junk that the ship was parked amongst. "There." He pointed. "We can shut the field down if we get to its generator. Then we get back in the ships and get the hell out of here."

"Sounds like a plan, brother." Thor stood by his side looking out the window. "It'll be fun," he added brightly. "Ready?"

Loki laughed, because what else was he supposed to do. "Ready as ever. Lead the way." He followed Thor into the fray, fully at home in this most chaotic of battles, but he had only just begun fighting when he received a short, painful buzz from the device affixed to his hip.

 _Fuck._ Sigyn had been told to call him only in emergencies and now, she was calling. _Fuck._ A second buzz, mercifully brief but still unmistakable. He cast smoke for cover and climbed the nearest junk heap to have a look.

 _Fuck, fuck, and fuck._ There were raiders making a try for the Asgardian ship. So far he counted three dead and two still alive – but these were new fighters, wearing new colors. Heavens knew where they had come from or how many there would turn out to be.

He decided against finding Thor to share the news; Thor was doubtless busy. Anyway he would be back soon – with his blood boiling like this, it wouldn't take him long at all to clear the field.

"Coming, everybody, I'm coming," he muttered aloud as he slid down the heap and raced off in the direction of the ship. Running _hurt_ and breathing hard was worse; his ribs ached and he had no desire at all to take any more damage.

He would be better off in the Jotun form – if he could bear to assume it here, in the light of day in front of everyone. He wavered... until he saw one of the children go down, trapped beneath a buzzer net. The sight made him want to _fight_ even more than he wanted to win, and though he had never really had the hang of being berserk in his usual form….

For the second time today he disposed of his clothing and became one of _them_. He armed and armored himself in ice without even breaking stride.

As he approached, at full run, he froze one of the raiders where it stood. Rather than changing course he just ran it right over. Frozen body parts crunched and cracked beneath him as he reached out for another enemy, threw it on the ground by the neck, and stabbed it with an icicle before it could rise. A third tried to flee from him; he caught it easily and finished it off.

He saw that the pack of Asgardian warriors – children in disguise – had backed away and huddled tight together. He supposed it made sense that they would be more afraid of _him_ than they were of the-

"Loki. It's me. Sigyn." One of them came forward. "Thanks. Is Ayla okay?"

He followed her gaze to the warrior – child – who lay writhing slowly on the ground. "She'll be fine," he rumbled. (Could these creatures not make _any_ nonthreatening sounds at all?). "You four." He pointed. "Pick her up, the carry I taught you, and take her inside."

They obeyed readily enough, and though they all still looked wary no one showed him any outward revulsion. _They're too young,_ he realized. They had never learned to hate the frost-giants, they hadn't grown up playing Raze Jotunheim every time it snowed, they-.

"Loki!" One of the others was calling his name, pointing: there were two more scavengers creeping up.

"Got it," he said, and froze them without needing to move a step.

"Hey – behind you!"

This time he was too slow, and the enemy managed to shoot him with a buzzing disc. It was hell, but he was pleasantly surprised to learn that Jotuns had enough resistance to the things that he didn't suffer immediate incapacitation. He froze the disc, yanked it from his neck… and then tossed it in his mouth to crunch up like a cracker, grinning. He always did love good theater.

* * *

TBC.

Merry Christmas everybody! I'm planning to get the next part up before New Years. I think there are a few more chapters left before the end, not too many. Let me know what you think!


	12. Chapter 12

Loki resumed his usual shape the instant the danger was past, and hoped with all his might that nobody would mention what he had done.

His hopes were dashed immediately. "Hey, Loki," one of the false soldiers said as they all filed back onto the ship, "Was that what, you know, Jotuns look like?"

 _No, you idiot, I invented that ugly body myself._ "Yes."

"Yeah, I figured. It looked really… tough."

"Mm." Even when he hurried, the child kept pace with him. Perhaps if he relieved it of the illusion it would go away? But stopping to cast would only give it more time to keep going.

"It seemed really good for battle, you know? Do you fight that way all the time? You don't, right? Why not? Could you, like-"

"Who are you?" Loki snapped, to cut short the questioning. He broke stride and cast what he needed to return all the children their usual appearances. "Oh. Narl." A boy nearing fourteen, broadening and growing fast. An attentive student, inquisitive, though not necessarily the brightest star in the galaxy.

"Oh – sorry. You can't see through those? Anyway- hey, Loki! Come on, wait! Where are you going?"

"Visiting the girl who was hurt under my command," he said shortly. "That's what you do – unless the numbers make it impracticable. Odin didn't have time to visit hundreds of wounded fighters." _Actually he didn't even have time to visit his two wounded sons whenever we got hurt._ Though to be fair, the princes were much more often hurt _flouting_ Odin's orders than obeying them. But still.

"Okay, sure, I was just asking." The boy still was not going away. "I was wondering: why don't you turn into a Jotun more often for battles? It seems like-"

"I don't _turn into a Jotun_ ; I _am_ Jotun," he spat before he could stop himself. _Patience patience patience._ But he was running out; the boy had gotten on his last nerve, and he should close his mouth before he told everybody what he _really_ thought of the frost-giants. He took a deep breath and did his best. "I only learned it recently; I've trained all my life in Asgardian form, under Asgardian masters, and I've had little experience with the Jotun style of fighting."

Narl laughed. "Anything you want to do in battle once," he recited, "You better practice a thousand times first."

He felt himself relax a little; it seemed the worst was over. "Precisely."

Or not. "You were really good though," the boy persisted cheerfully. "Do you think you'd beat Thor?"

He stopped short. Looked both ways and then behind him, with a stab of totally irrational panic. " _No,_ " he snapped. "Where the fuck would you get that idea?"

The boy was of course startled by his outburst. "I didn't-, I, I was just-, I mean when you sparred at practice you-"

"No." _Patience. We do not smite children._ "The answer is no. Thor's very good at killing Jotuns. And I have no interest in fighting him in earnest. Ever." _Ever **again,** _his mind supplied helpfully. _Because it's gone so splendidly all the times I've tried before._

Finally, he seemed to have rendered the boy silent.

But now he felt _guilty_ about it. About disturbing him – and about having misled him so badly that he could imagine some foundling monster warring against Thor Odinson _and winning_.

Ludicrous. Loki sighed. "You've never really seen Thor fight, have you." The boy shook his head. "That's a crime – he is beyond good, and you should learn from him. You should start going to his practices."

"But." Narl frowned. "Thor said they're only for adults."

"And _I_ say that you have enough size and skill to start attending. He'll allow you on my recommendation." He thought over his regulars. "As well as your brother, and at least two or three others. We'll discuss it tomorrow at practice, develop some sort of qualification procedure to promote you. Now go on; the girls' room is up this way and I'll visit alone."

"But. Loki." The boy actually grabbed him, a powerful grip on the upper arm that swung him around to make unexpected eye contact. "What if I want to stay with you."

It wasn't a question, and he didn't treat it like one. "That's absurd, Thor is much better," he said neatly, pulling away. "Go."

* * *

Even with half the population moved to Valkyrie's ship, Sigyn couldn't find a place to eat alone. Not because there were no tables this time, but because a lot of the younger kids had started buzzing around her as if she were their sister or their friend.

She was neither, but there really wasn't any way to tell them. The more grouchy she tried to look, the more respect they treated her with – and they buzzed around her even harder.

She felt one coming up behind her – but not one of the little kids; there was no awe in him. She knew before he even opened his mouth that it was one of the older boys.

"Hey – Sigyn. Can I talk to you?"

Narl. One of the few she had actually been friends with _Before._ (Well – sort of friends. They had been friends until his voice started to change, and then there was no way to be friends anymore without people telling them they should get married, which she did not want because he was _Narl_ and she was too young and had too many better things to do.). Lately they had hardly said more than hello to each other.

Which made his request very suspicious. "Sure," she said, all short and cold, "As long you actually want to talk to _me,_ and not Loki. I'm not his page and I don't pass him messages."

Narl cleared his throat and sat down. "I definitely don't want you to pass this on to Loki."

Hm. "Okay…?"

"I just talked to Loki, is the thing. And now he's trying to kick me out of his class."

"What – why? You didn't do anything," she sputtered. "Is it because of Ayla? That's nobody's fault, she's a stupid cow, getting caught in a _net_ like a-"

"No no, it's not her." Narl pushed his hair off his face. He needed a haircut. "It's just I asked whether he could take Thor in a fight. You know, when he's-… blue. I was just _asking_ , I didn't mean anything."

"And he kicked you out?" It didn't make sense. Loki could get snippy, sure, but he was never _unfair_.

"Not in so many words, but, he told me I'm big enough to train in Thor's class and I should start doing it. I said what if I want to stay with him, and he said no. He said, _that's crazy_."

"Strange." But it _wasn't_ strange, she realized suddenly. "Actually: he said the same thing to me when I asked-… something."

"What'd you ask?"

She was not going to talk about her bedding with _Narl_ of all people. "Same thing Ayla's probably asking right now," she said. Nose in the air. "But she's wasting her time; Loki said he doesn't take concubines."

"What - concubines? Sig!" He faced her square and grabbed her shoulders. "Are you kidding? That _is_ crazy!"

"Why?" She pulled free. "I _said_ I'd wait til I'm fourteen. Obviously. But what am I supposed to do, fly through space all alone forever?"

He opened his mouth a couple of times. And then said: "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that."

Oh _no_. "About what?" Maybe he meant something else.

"About how we were friends once. And you're by far my favorite girl here. I've asked around, and I think I'm your favorite-… man."

Since he'd tripped on the word himself she almost felt too sorry for him to be mean… but she had to shut this conversation down; it was the absolute last thing she wanted to hear. "You're not a man at all; you're a kid like me," she said ruthlessly. "Anyway boys don't marry til sixteen, and anyway, I'm not marrying you, so forget it."

"Hey, if I'm old enough to go to war with the men I should be old enough to pick a wife."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, pick a different one. You can't have me."

Suddenly he turned awful. "Without your parents here it's the _king's_ job to arrange a marriage for you – and last I checked, you weren't Thor."

"And last I checked, you weren't either," she shot back, but he ignored her.

"Maybe I'll go to his practice after all, and just _ask_ him for you!"

She laughed out loud. "Right! Because I'm sure _that's_ how the king arranges-"

"The Allfather gave my mother to my father like a goat," he said over her. "Yours too. That _is_ how the king arranges marriages, so why don't you shut up instead of acting like you know everything just because Loki lets you hang around him – for some reason that makes no sense to me!"

She couldn't think of an answer fast enough, and he got up and stomped away from the table with the last word.

About ten seconds too late, she had it: _If I'm your favorite girl, I'd hate to see how you treat the others._

* * *

Loki was nowhere to be found and Heimdall said the practice room was heavily hidden, so Thor concluded that he must be Up To Something in there and went to investigate.

He pushed the door open just a crack and pressed his eye to it, half expecting to see a blur of icy blue…

But no: Loki was in his usual form, soaked with sweat, exercising with rare dedication.

 _He's probably training up to kill you,_ Thor warned himself, but he couldn't resist opening the door up and calling a greeting. "Brother – may I join you?"

Loki whirled on him and glared. "Must you take even my workout?" he snarled. "Why can't I have _anything_ of my own?"

"What-? What are you talking about?" Clearly Loki thought he had been wronged somehow, but he wasn't the one who had been duped and electrocuted today.

Perhaps Loki realized the injustice of what he'd said – he waved it off irritably and turned away. "Never mind. A few of my students are going to graduate into your group, is all, and I'm... yeah. Forget I said anything."

"Your students." Thor was at least fully in the room now, the door closed behind him. "They performed well today." _Though you really should have asked my permission before you sent Asgardian children into battle._

Loki apparently heard what he did not say aloud. "All they had to do was stand still - I know they're not ready to fight, brother. But someone had to stand guard, and it's not as if I had a vast array of minions to choose from."

"Mm. And I hear you defended them well, when the need arose."

Loki flipped his hair back, still breathing hard, and stared at him a long time. "It was the least I could do," he said at last. With not a word about _how_ exactly he had done it.

Thor knew it would only cause an argument if he brought it up, so he changed the subject. "Let me train with you," he said easily – already stripping off his leathers; if Loki planned to spar shirtless it was only fair.

"No."

He stared. Loki _never_ said no to him – not like that. He offered excuses, distractions, explanations. But never just a bare refusal.

"Why not?"

Loki sighed and took up a towel. "Perhaps you've forgotten what your green friend did to me, but I alas have not. Shadow-boxing in this condition is one thing, but I'm not up for any of your _accidents_."

Ah – he'd forgotten about Loki's injuries. (Perhaps he would have remembered, if he'd even been allowed to visit the sickbed!)

But Loki's sneer irritated him; he couldn't let it pass. "There won't be any accidents."

"Thor…"

"If you'll trust your children to me, surely you can trust me with this."

"That's different," Loki protested, "You know it's-"

"I won't even touch you. I swear it."

At that Loki bit his lip. Considered. Then grinned at him. "Really? You swear?"

Ten minutes later he was regretting his promise, bleeding from a dozen delicate little scratches as Loki reminded him exactly why there were good reasons to train with knives.

"Ah – Loki!" he yelped, as a blade whispered over his cheek. The sting was light, but still. "Come on. This face has been through enough."

"Barely touched you. You'll heal clean." Loki darted in with the same attack, giving him another chance, and this time he managed to deflect it correctly. "Yeah, better."

"I can't _see_ ," he complained, for the hundredth time.

"Get used to it," Loki answered, also for the hundredth time. "You'll have to predict the attack a little earlier, is all. Pay more attention to what my shoulders are doing."

"Yeah, yeah." On the next pass he countered with some aggression, but still stopped his riposte an inch short of Loki's jaw – if he gave any injury today after promising not to, Loki would be furious.

Loki looked down at the fist by his chin – and laughed before fighting back. "Impressive, brother."

"He squeezed your ribs, you say." Thor knocked aside a series of fast slashes while he talked. "I might be able to break your nose with a clear conscience."

"Ruin my face, and I promise I'll ruin yours," Loki panted into his ear as they fought. "What's left of it anyway." That was _mean,_ but it seemed Loki wasn't threatening in earnest; the knives were moving in well-known patterns that Thor could defend from memory.

The next time they broke apart to catch their breaths, Loki confirmed what Thor had guessed of his attitude: "I'm joking – the eyepatch looks fine."

Thor touched the scratch on his cheek. "I'm more worried about whether it's going to get me killed."

"You, worried?" Loki tossed it off… then changed his attitude. "No, it _is_ a liability, but you're getting better with it. Thirsty?"

He held out his hand and Thor watched a jagged blue icicle form up. "Nice – thanks," he said, trying to match the casual tone because apparently Loki wanted to act as if it was all no big deal.

The icicle was delicious. Crisp and cold and refreshing. While he sucked on it Loki juggled knives and pretended to pay him no mind, but Thor caught him more than once peeking in the mirror.

* * *

TBC.


	13. Chapter 13

A few days later, Thor announced at lunch that everyone should gather in the main hall, where they had fashioned a makeshift throne, for the resolution of some formal matter.

She expected it had something to do with discussing the ships' destination or Asgard's future… or perhaps something more mundane, like a decision on how the passengers would be divided between the two ships for the long term. She would have tried to ask Loki, but he was sitting with Heimdall today and she felt a little shy about disturbing them.

So she filed in along with all of the others to hear what the king had to say.

"I gathered you all together because there is a matter to address," Thor began. "A matter regarding the girl Sigyn."

 _What?_

"I have reached a decision and I wish to render it in public," he went on, "And to explain my reasoning, so that everyone will understand the way decisions are made around here."

Everyone was looking at her.

"Sigyn. Come forward."

Her legs took her a few steps; she was dizzy.

But suddenly Loki was by her side. He grasped her shoulder hard, keeping her from approaching any closer. "Thor, what is this."

She looked up at him in surprise. He didn't know? That meant that Thor was passing judgment on her _without_ letting Loki have a say. That didn't seem fair; everything questionable she had done was on Loki's orders anyway.

Thor smiled briefly. "I'm imposing some justice today, brother. Let go of her."

"Thor..."

"You heard me."

But he _wasn't_ letting go; he was doing the opposite. Squeezing so hard now that she was sure she was going to bruise.

He felt... afraid. She wanted to help; Thor wasn't dangerous today and maybe it would help for Loki to know that. "Listen," she said, tugging at him. "He doesn't mean me any harm."

Loki only hissed. "He never means anyone any harm. It doesn't seem to help."

" _Loki._ " Now, for the first time, there was warning in the king's tone.

Sigyn reached up and pried at Loki's fingers. "Come on. Don't make this worse." His grip slackened immediately, and she was able to pull away. She turned her attention to the throne. "Am I in trouble, Your Majesty?" she asked.

"Incredibly enough, no." He smiled a little. "But there is a petition I need to rule on."

A petition? _But you denied my petition already,_ she wanted to say… except she knew it wasn't true. _Loki_ had rejected her. She did her best to forget that fact, and most days managed pretty well.

Her jaw dropped as the thought hit: was Thor going to overrule his brother – _make_ him take her? It could work. Loki had definitely snuggled into her hand when she sat by his bedside the other day.

"It would be my preference for everyone to find his place – or hers – naturally," Thor said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. "I don't really think it's a good idea to start binding people to one another by force."

 _Damn_.

"However. In your case, I have had to reassess."

 _Yes_!

"You see, the other day a young man came to me and petitioned me for your hand in marriage."

 _WHAT_. She tried to yell, but the shock was paralyzing. Her lungs wouldn't expand, her mouth wouldn't open.

"Thor." Loki was with her again – behind her this time, gripping her by both arms. It was all that kept her from falling down. "She's a child. You cannot be-"

"Quiet, Loki," Thor snapped over him. "Stop interrupting me, or I'll have you removed from here by force." The room grew utterly silent. Tense. But when Thor spoke again, he sounded calm and almost mild. "Don't make me, brother – I want you present. It's all your doing, after all."

"My-…?" Loki was hurting her again – and beyond afraid now; he hummed with raw panic. "Don't do this," he said. "Please."

 _Do what_? She was starting to panic a little herself. Was the king really going to give her away like a goat, just because he was mad at someone else?

"I said be quiet." Then Thor smiled down at her. "Sigyn, I do like you," he said, "Despite your most persistent efforts to prevent me. But the thing is: I don't know you. I don't know what's right for you. I can assume that since the boy came to me alone, he was asking for something you don't want to give. So all right: this one was easy; I hereby reject him for you. But what about the next one?"

"The next one?"

"The next decision that a parent should make," he clarified. "It's my right as king to stand parent to you, or to any Asgardian, but in your case I actually don't think that would be wise." Somehow she didn't see where the king was going, until he said: "So I hereby foster you to my brother Loki."

 _What_ , she tried to say, but couldn't quite.

"Foster," Thor repeated. "I won't force him to adopt you. This arrangement will expire on your fourteenth birthday – and if he, or you, would prefer, then it can be entirely formal for the duration. All I require is that from today until you are of age, Loki will take responsibility for you and stand as your parent in official matters. You will respect his authority. That is all I am _ordering_ ; if the two of you wish to forge any further bond, it is your own business."He wasn't smiling now, he looked very serious, but she felt no threat or ill will. "Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Loki: do you?"

She heard him breathing hard over her. Finally he said: "I didn't ask for this."

"I know." Thor smirked at him. "Consider it your punishment for rendering one of my subjects impossible for me to govern. You wanted her? You've got her."

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **I'm not even sure how Loki is going to take this. Stay tuned and we'll find out together! I expect to have some time to write towards the end of the week, and hopefully I can update some time during the weekend. Let me know what you think so far!**


	14. Chapter 14

Loki threw out the woman on communication duty, sat down himself, and contacted the other ship. "This is your prince," he said into the mic – harsh and imperious. "Get me Banner."

The speakers crackled. "At once."

A few minutes later the mortal answered him. "What?"

"I'm coming over."

Even through the static he could hear the mortal sigh. "It's not like I can stop you, Loki. Though believe me I'm still looking for a way."

"No – not like that. Physically this time. I'm actually coming over."

A long pause. "Why?"

He shrugged, although there was no one to see. "Thor's being Thor."

Another long silence. "Look, I sympathize with that, I really do. But I don't think it's a great idea to put us in proximity. Pushing buttons is your _thing_ , and. You know."

He _psh_ 'd. "If I annoy you to the point of transformation I can always transform you back," he pointed out. " _If,_ that is, you have been nice to me. So I'd remain on your best behavior if I were you."

"You want to reach Earth, or not?" Banner said mildly. "Cause I will turn this ship right around."

They had spoken enough over the intercom these past few days for him to know that Banner was mainly joking. "Seriously," he said, "I'm coming over. Tell them to watch for me, I'll aim for the hatch on the left." Because a space accident would be a superlatively stupid way to die, he said: "Are you _sure_ this will work?"

"Negative, Loki," Banner said at once. "I'm not sure. I said _probably._ I said you are _probably_ okay in an ice capsule. But until you let me work hands on with you I can't tell you anything for sure."

If he died in transit, he wouldn't have to deal with Thor or his new assignment ever again. "Excellent. I'm coming over."

* * *

Unfortunately, he did not die in transit. He made it to the other ship, and transformed out of his hideous Jotun state before the airlock was even open.

Banner was waiting for him. "I know you came here to have some alone-time and chill out, and I hate to be a guy who doesn't respect that… but we have yet to sit down and talk Tesseract."

"I know, I know." The path of least resistance was all he could manage at the moment. "Fine – we can talk. But give me a drink and some damn peace and quiet first."

Banner led him to his quarters and (very inexpertly) made him a martini. He sat and sipped for a while, perhaps longer than he thought because suddenly Banner was in a towel and drying his hair. Must have gone and had a shower. "Loki? You okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine." He tried to put Thor and Thor's Thorery aside, and focus on the conversation. "Sorry – what were you saying?"

Banner sighed. "That if anything happens to you, we have no way of retrieving the Tesseract. You have to tell someone where it is, and stop hogging what you know."

Loki sighed. "Not this again. We've had this argument."

"Yeah, and normally you just disappear when you're sick of hearing it. But this time here you are, so you're gonna hear me out." Banner drew himself up and tried to assume a warlike posture. "I've studied that thing, I'll study it more, _and I share what I find_. That's the way science works: you show me yours, I show you mine." A particularly awkward thing to hear from a man in a towel, but he was too tired to comment.

"Fine – fine, just, whatever," he said instead. "Come here, and I'll give you what I have." He gestured to his temples. Because what would be the point of holding out? There was no chance that Banner would ever defect to Thanos, or steal the cube for himself, and he was likely pretty resistant to the tortures Thanos tended to use to get information.

Instead of touching him as directed, though, Banner just leaned close, frowning with suspicion. "Have you been like this since Sakaar?" he asked seriously. "Spacing out, sleepy, apathetic? Are you having headaches? Because, when you-"

"Don't flatter yourself," Loki said over him. "As far as head injuries go that wasn't even in my top fifty."

"Doesn't mean you didn't get a-"

"Frost-giants don't _get_ concussions," he invented, out of nowhere. "We are very resilient. Now do you want the information, or not? Put your hands here and shut up."

Banner finally took hold, looking apprehensive, and closed his eyes. But then pulled away from the mind-share almost immediately. "Foster?" he said. "A kid?"

He heaved a sigh. "That's not what I meant to show you. Come here – I'll try again."

But Banner didn't. "Uh, can I just put my two cents in? About that?"

"No."

Banner ignored him. "Thor's idea is cute and all, I know he likes everybody to be fuzzy and get along and be friends, but I can tell you from experience that some people are just better off alone. No offense."

"None taken." It shouldn't surprise him that he and the beast-man would see eye to eye so often. He emptied his glass in one swallow. "Now come get what you want out of this bag full of cats – oh yes, I heard that and I've not forgotten it – and then make me another drink."

* * *

 _All_ the kids were pointing and whispering, but the girls her own age would have been the worst. So, instead of going back to her dormitory Sigyn spent the night on the floor in the practice room; at least everyone would leave her alone.

She daydreamed a little about how great it would be if Loki turned out to be glad to have her… but she tried not to think those thoughts _too_ much and get her hopes up because in her heart of hearts she knew the truth. _I didn't ask for this,_ Loki had said. Thor had called her a _punishment._ And then Loki had stomped off, and disappeared – and she doubted it was for purposes of buying her a welcome present.

The floor was hard. She was uncomfortable and cold and sad, until Heimdall came in and wordlessly covered her in blankets. Then she was just sad. She thanked him… but maybe that was a mistake, because a few minutes later Thor was knocking.

"Go away," she said in the dark. Then tacked on: "…if it please Your Majesty," because he _was_ the king after all.

He sighed through the door. "I assume Loki did something to hurt your feelings," he said. "I just wanted to tell you I've been there – and I assure you that the problem is _him,_ not you. If you ever want to talk, or anything, you know where to find me."

 _No the problem is that you are just as dangerous as Loki warned me,_ she wanted to say. _You think you're doing the right thing, but everyone ends up screwed._

"Yes Your Majesty," she droned, cold rote politeness that would definitely send him away.

He went – after another sad sigh.

* * *

In the morning she got up before anyone arrived, and tidied so that people wouldn't know she'd slept there. Eventually kids started to come in…

And one of the first ones was Narl. "What are you doing here?" she said. "Didn't Loki tell you to practice with the grownups?"

"Yeah, yeah – I'm not here to practice." He pulled her aside and looked around to make sure they had privacy. "Sig, look. I just wanted to say, you know, I'm sorry. I didn't mean, you know. What I said before. I wasn't-… I wouldn't-…"

 _Yes you were,_ she thought. _Yes you would._ But she knew she was cranky from her terrible night, and it wasn't fair to take it out on him. "I know. I get it," she said.

"Uh… still friends?" He was more than awkward. He seemed _nervous_. Maybe he really did like her!

Maybe he was like Thor. Who never meant any harm either, but… "Sure," she lied. "Definitely."

"Great! Okay." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Look, I know I shouldn't have asked the king about you behind your back. I'm sorry. I should have, you know. Waited. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, it's fine, really. It's okay." She made herself smile. _Go away._

"So…" he gave a tight little laugh. "So don't let Loki think I was, you know, trying anything bad. Okay? I, I wasn't."

Ah: _now_ she understood why he was nervous. Little did he know Loki was about as protective of her as the contents of the waste pit. "Relax: I won't tell Loki anything bad about this," she promised. "I don't _want_ him to start fighting all my battles for me."

And that much was true. What would be more useful, now that she thought about it, would be if Loki would teach her to start fighting all her battles herself.

* * *

 **TBC.**

 **Hoping to update some time during the week.**


	15. Chapter 15

He knew exactly what he was going to say to her. _Do not fuck me, Sigyn._ He thought it all out while he recovered, in Banner's shower, from last night's drinking. _If you ever betray me, or tell my secrets, or so much as laugh at me with your friends, I'll make you sorry you were ever born._

But he wasn't sure that would be sufficient. She would fall all over herself to give him assurances, and of course she would mean them, but would he really be able to rely on her?

Of course not. Now that he thought about it, it was a miracle he had trusted the girl as far as he had; he certainly wasn't going to let his guard down any _more_! When he cataloged all the stupid things he had done lately, the list was impressive. He had told her about a treason he planned to commit. He had all but begged Thor – in public – on her behalf. More incredibly, even after the nightmare he had endured the day Asgard fell, he had willingly affixed a buzzer device to his own skin and handed her the control. And worst of all he had told her, at least a little, about Odin – admitted that the fantasy he cared so hard about was, in fact, just a fantasy.

 _Stupid,_ he told himself as he tried to scrub some wakefulness into himself. _Stupid stupid stupid._ He tilted his head up for a faceful of water. _Do better._ At least he hadn't told her how badly he'd wanted it to be true.

When he came out of the shower Banner was awake too. "Hey," the mortal said – the sheepish greeting of someone who definitely wished he had woken up alone. "How are you doing?"

"Wonderful. Frost-giants love hangovers." Loki glared at him. "Enough stupid questions. I'm going back over; my kids will be pouring into the practice hall and if I'm late they'll probably all stab each other from boredom."

One glance in the mirror told him he looked as bad as he felt, so he pulled on an illusion and stood to admire it for a moment.

Banner did more than admire: he jumped out of bed (clothed, at least! Thor had complained that his other form slept naked) and approached, rubbing at his eyes. "How do you do that," he said seriously. "Are you doing something to my perception, or actually altering your appearance somehow? If we put a video camera in here with you alone, would it-"

"Enough! I don't know. Why would I care." He backed away from the greedy interest. "Fucking scientists."

"Pff," Banner scoffed, but retreated as requested. "You know science is the bomb."

"Fuck off," he said (very mature!) as he made for the door.

"Science is going to get us home!" Banner called after him brightly.

* * *

When Loki walked into practice, he _looked_ okay maybe, but Sigyn could tell immediately that it was a fake. He felt unwell, and had covered it up with a glamour much less effective than the one he had woven for her on Sakaar.

She sidled up to him at once. "Are you okay?"

He froze a second, and the look he gave her was both startled and angry. She realized that of _course_ he hadn't wanted the class to know he was sick, or he wouldn't be concealing it from them. And people were listening.

She thought fast. "…because, you're _never_ not early," she said. Pretending to sass. "But today _I_ was the first one here. So do _I_ get to run practice?"

He relaxed. "Dream on." He raised his eyes to the group at large. "All of you, let's go. Start warming up."

She had maybe the worst practice of her life; she couldn't focus on anything. As soon as it was over she started angling for a way to get him alone.

It turned out not to be difficult; he wanted to talk to her too. "You: stay," he said shortly while the others filed out. People left without even giving her a second glance, which made her realize all over again how it had become _normal,_ for Loki to treat her different from everybody else.

She told herself that he _did_ like her – and need her. And she would not let him pretend otherwise.

"I'm sorry," she said as soon as they were alone. "I shouldn't have said anything. About you not looking good."

"Indeed. If I ever want six-year-olds to know about my hangovers, rest assured, I will let you know. Until that time: zip it."

"I know. I know, I'm… sorry."

"Mm." It seemed like whatever was bothering him was more than just the hangover. He looked… restless. Frustrated.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing." Then he sighed. "Don't play games with me. You know what."

Oh. "Are you really that mad about it?" She could hear her voice changing, shaking. She tried to keep it casual. "I told you I won't be difficult. You won't have to do anything."

"You told me," he echoed. He frowned at her. "You asked me for this on Sakaar – and I said no. Is it you who put the idea in Thor's head?"

"What – no! No no, definitely not. Not at all, Loki, come on," she protested. "I don't talk to Thor. And anyway I obviously wouldn't ask to be forced on you when you don't want me."

"Mm. Smart girl. I told you, a parent who doesn't want you is really the pits."

She watched as he lowered himself to a bench, made an icicle and started to eat it – slowly. This seemed worse than any of the hangovers she had seen in the past. (She'd had an uncle who was prone to them. Dead now.). Maybe it would make him talk more, too tired to be wary.

She sat down next to him. "Did Odin really not want you?" she asked straight out. "In your plays he always came around."

"Fiction. Lies." Before she could ask any more questions, he went on:"I was disguising myself as Odin; I needed people to like him. That is the _only_ reason he came off so well. Otherwise I promise you I would happily have exposed him for the heartless tyrant he was."

She thought back to what she knew. It wasn't much. "But… he did adopt you," she ventured.

"He _kidnapped_ me. After slaughtering most of my family."

That couldn't be the whole story. "What-? Why?"

"He never told me. I assume it was because he wanted a hostage. My father was the Jotun king, did you know that? I _am_ a prince by birth. Just, prince of the wrong realm."

Loki's official rank didn't interest her; she cared much more about the question of why he had been brought to Asgard in the first place. His hostage theory didn't really make sense – given how Asgard had defeated the frost-giants, there was no need for hostages at all. "You didn't… ask Odin why he did it?"

"I tried. He lied to me." He gave her a tired look. "Don't ever lie to me, Sigyn. I'll take it very badly."

She could feel her eyes widening: he was setting _rules_ for her. Like a parent. "I won't."

"And don't ever tell my secrets. Betrayal in any form will make me very angry. _Very_ angry."

"I understand."

He laughed softly. "No you don't. Shall I be blunt?"

Why? Just to scare her? "No. Because I'm not _going_ to betray you, I told you that. I'm _with_ you," she said. "I've been trying to get you to agree to that since we started this trip."

His turn to frown and say: " _Why_?"

She shrugged. _Because I've worshipped you for years and fallen in love and now that I met you and you're different from the stories but not **that** different, and better actually, I love you more than ever._ He would not like that.

 _I don't know_ was on the tip of her tongue, but that was a lie and he had _just_ told her not to lie. So she just shrugged again. "Because."

He sighed. "I hate children. Especially girls."

"You do not! You love the children – and we love you. We _all_ do." There – that was close enough.

He snorted. She wondered if he'd heard what she really meant. Then he stood up to tower over her. "In other news, Thor says I'm to be held responsible for your behavior. Do you understand what that means?"

She stood too, and tried to look as responsible as possible. "Of course. And obviously, I wouldn't do anything to make trouble for you. Until I started listening to you I've actually never been in trouble at all." Since he didn't interrupt her, she kept going. "But… Thor also said-" She cleared her throat and started again – that was too timid, and Loki would surely have no use for a little girly pile of dead weight. "He said this can be just a formality, if you want, or it can be more." She stood as tall as she could. "I want it to be more."

He chuckled – with teeth, and it didn't look friendly. "You've made that clear. But I'm afraid my quarters are too small to take in a roommate."

"I didn't-… I didn't mean I had to move in with you." She tried to toughen up and not sound so whiney. "Though moving in would be nice."Right now she slept with five other girls in a room that was probably originally supposed to be a closet.

 _"Do not fuck me, Sigyn."_ Suddenly his casual tone was gone; he was dangerous.

She blinked. "What?"

He blinked too – many times. "I- didn't mean it that way," he stammered. Then winced. "I mean I _did,_ that too, but-. Fuck." He heaved a huge sigh, looked up at the ceiling, and tried again. "I am glad to see that you're no longer proposing yourself as a sex partner. But so long as what you _are_ proposing is a bond of any sort, I want you to understand how critically important it is that you remain faithful to it."

She heard what he was saying, and she wanted to hug him. Everybody, including his awful pretend father who was actually a kidnapper, had turned on him at one point or another and _that_ was why he had run away from her yesterday. She wondered how she could make him believe that she, at least, never would.

He glared at her. "Stop looking at me like that. It's really not that romantic. I am threatening you."

"I didn't say it was romantic-"

"Stop. Lying is more than the words that come out of your mouth," he said over her. "Your face is terrible. Worse than Thor's. We have to work on it."

"Okay." She felt herself grinning like a fool but she couldn't stop. He was saying yes. He was going to take her under his wing and-

" _Stop,_ " he said again, but she could tell he wasn't angry. "All I'm saying is that if you keep faith with me – and for your own sake you'd better – then I'll take care of you until you're grown. That's it."

That was only two years away. But she didn't want to push her luck by asking what would happen afterwards, because she didn't want to remind him that from now on he had the power to do _anything_ with her, including marry her off to a troll if he wanted.

"I hear you. And I understand. Like I said, I'm with you. Okay?"

"Okay." Loki broke suddenly into a wide bright smile – a smile so crazy that she had to laugh too – and struck a pose. "In that case: welcome to the family! May it bring you less disaster than it has brought me."

 _Family._ She knew he was joking, but only kind of, and this time she couldn't resist hugging him, hard and suddenly, ribs and hangover notwithstanding.

He gasped – surprise maybe, or maybe just pain – but he put his hand on her back for a second before prying her off.

* * *

 **The End, Almost.**

This is basically the end, except for a little epiloggy thing I'm planning to put up. I didn't let this fic become a massive epic! Aren't you proud of me?!


	16. Chapter 16

She heard footsteps in the hallway and hardly looked up from what she was doing; she knew it was Loki.

 _He_ couldn't feel her through walls, though, and when he opened the door he jumped. Then glared. "One of these days you're going to really surprise me," he warned, "And I'll blast you before I think to stop."

Sigyn shrugged. "Maybe by then I'll be any good at a shielding spell, and it won't matter."

He laughed. It was a little mean. "Keep practicing."

She hopped down from the bed – _his_ bed, which he was strangely unpossessive about compared to his desk. "I got the hair illusion working today. Want to see?" She still wasn't sure she believed him, that glamouring a coating of fur on her hands was the best and only way to start learning illusion magic, but what was she going to do? He was the teacher.

"Yes. In a minute." He stripped his shirt off and went to a mirror. He shimmered off some of his own illusion, and she saw too much blood and bruising for it to be anything but- "Fucking Thor."

She watched him start to wipe and wrap. "Are you okay?"

He never seemed to know how to answer that; sometimes he snapped _what the fuck does it look like,_ other times he laughed, or shrugged, or lied. Today he just said, "Mm."

"Do you _really_ have to fight so hard?"

That one he answered the same way every time. "Yes. If you don't train hard every now and then, you lose your edge. Fighting for stakes encourages habits I need."

"Can't you do it with someone other than Thor?"

He paused a second. Exchanged out a bloodied rag for a clean one. "Thor's a beast," he said at last, "but he won't injure me on purpose. I can't say that about any other Asgardian."

 _Me,_ she thought, but it was stupid because she was not good enough to give even any of the boys her own age a hard bout. But still.

Maybe her thoughts were written on her face – he laughed and corrected himself. "Any Asgardian over the age of majority."

Better. "Is there anything I can do?"

He turned to look over his shoulder into the mirror. "No, I can reach it all." Then he straightened up and faced her. "Show me illusion, and then go make friends."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't _need_ friends." Having the same argument a hundred times actually felt good. Normal.

He seemed to agree with her; his arms were crossed but he was almost smiling as he repeated, "Show me, I said."

She took a deep breath. Looked down at her hands, pictured what she wanted to do. Pulled for the power, felt herself heat up-...

A fur coat shimmered, just for a few seconds, but as soon as she tried to move her fingers around it dissolved into sparks.

Immediately she wished she hadn't shown him. _Not bad,_ he would tell her, _If you only need to disguise one part of your body, for a minute, while you're standing still._

But Loki bobbed his head. "Good," he said seriously. "It's a good start. Keep working on it, and I'll then I'll show you more. By the time we get to Midgard you'll be able to freak the hell out of all the Earthlings."

"Do you really think so?" But then she didn't want him to answer that – the answer was probably no. She thought fast for something else to ask instead. "So what's Midgard _like_?"

But that turned out to be one of those topics that turned Loki off like a light switch. _Damn._ She was pretty good about avoiding forbidden subjects in general – but she hadn't known about this one.

At least he was getting better about not biting heads off when she misstepped. "It's fine," he said shortly. Nodded at the door. "Now go on back to your friends."

* * *

He tried to forget about the girl's question, but of course it lodged itself into his mind and would not go. What's Midgard like. What _was_ Midgard like, before you attacked it. What _would_ the earthlings have done to welcome visitors from space – until you made them fear and hate us.

Not _us,_ though _._ Just… "Just me," he said aloud. He'd used to talk to himself a lot on Midgard. His thoughts had been untrustworthy, under constant pressure from the scepter. Spoken words had been much surer and easier to analyze.

He would prefer not to think about the scepter. Given the sheer number of times Banner alluded to it, though, even in cool scientific conversation, it was clear that the mortals had not forgotten about it – or about whose hand had wielded it.

He tried to raise the question with Thor later on – casually. He did it while they were standing shoulder to shoulder looking out the window together. "Do you really think it's a good idea to go back to Earth?"

Of course Thor looked at it from his usual perspective: "The people of Earth love me!"

So he tried again. "Let me rephrase that: Do you really think it's a good idea to bring _me_ back to Earth."

Thor just laughed it off – but clearly he had already considered the problem. That was a good sign, at least: he had considered it, probably together with his smarter half Heimdall, and had concluded, somehow, that everything would be fine. Maybe he was overly optimistic? Or maybe, as the children's devotion seemed to suggest, now that everybody on these ships owed their lives to Loki, they would all have to stand behind him.

 _It's never worked that way before,_ he groused to himself… but perhaps he could afford to give the universe one more chance. _It's not as if I have any better options._

Before he could think any further than that, though, a shadow fell over him. A shadow – in space. Something impossibly large, and fast, had overtaken them, and-.

He knew that ship.

 _Thanos._

* * *

 **The End.**

Fuck, shit, fuck: now I really want to continue this haha! But I will refrain. Otherwise it really _will_ grow into an impossible-to-manage epic. Thanks for coming along for this ride, thanks for your comments, I hope you enjoyed!


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